'Dorian Gray' doesn't quite convince

Director: Oliver Parker

Cast: Ben Barnes, Colin Firth, Ben Chaplin, Rachel Hurdwood

Cert: 16

This is a new version of Oscar Wilde’s classic tale of the handsome young man of the title (Barnes) who sells his soul for an eternity of staying handsome and living a life of debauchery while a portrait in the attic turns ugly and terrifying.

It's a good version, but not a patch on the 1945 version starring Hurd Hatfield, George Sanders and Donna Reed.

Director Parker does succeed in bringing us a murky, gloomy, depraved Victorian London, and Chaplin as Gray’s artist friend and Firth as his decent, if long-suffering, friend contribute greatly, but somehow the transformation of the central character from a dashing young heart-breaker to a wreck of a human-being is rushed and Barnes doesn’t quite convince in such a crucial role.

Star Rating: 3/5