现在我终于知道为什么《Dorian Gray》的电影骂声一片了。因为估计除了Wilde自己,谁也没有资格,没有能力来驾驭改编这部近乎梦游般无法用语言表达其神奇的作品。不管男主角再小样,再英俊,还是少了书里的那份妖孽般的青春逼人;就算你找最经典,最能代表英国绅士的Mr Darcy-Colin Firth来诠释Lord Henry, 还是有那么点优雅有余,睿智不足;无论你是照般书里的台词还是还原书里的场景,二手的东西观众就是不买帐。所以,电影就成了吃力不讨好的鸡肋,食之无味,弃之可惜。
  
言归正传,不管电影传达出原作的精神有几分,还是值得来好好评一评的,也不知道我的造化是不是能领悟到Wilde最上乘的内功心法:
  
Wilde自己曾经说“Basil Hallward is what I think I am; Lord Henry what the world thinks me; Dorian what I would like to be --- in other ages, perhaps.” 三个人的三角关系是很精妙的:
  
画家Basil为年轻的Dorian着迷,为其创作了画像,Basil对Dorian的感情可以理解为视其为艺术上绝对的灵感源泉,以及暧昧的类同志般的迷恋,而Basil自己是羞于将这种感觉表达出来的,把它作为心里最大的秘密。有一点Basil揭示艺术性质的阐述我认为堪称经典:“Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter. The sitter is merely the accident, the occasion. It is not he who is revealed by the painter, it is rather the painter who, on the colored canvas reveals himself.”所以Basil断然拒绝把这样的作品拿去做展出。
  
是Basil把这样的Dorian介绍给了Lord Henry, Lord Henry本身是一个睿智的哲学家,但也是愤世嫉俗的典范,从全书的发展来看正是他最终把Dorian送上了自我毁灭的道路。他本身的意图并没有恶意,他经过许多年的磨砺和思考,产生对生活和艺术的独到见解。他的想法虽然是睿智非凡的,但也是极端的,消极的。他想把这样的经验告诉给他欣赏的Dorian,但是Dorian却会错了意,或者说以当时20左右的Dorian的思想根本无法理解Lord Henry的哲学,但这种曲解对一个好奇的年轻人来说是致命的。Lord Henry本身的个性非常复杂,他也是我书里最钦佩的人物,他的睿智和生活态度可以说完全体验了Wilde本人的风格,往往妙语连珠,洒脱不羁,一语惊人,似乎看透世事,却又与世间一切享乐玩了一生暧昧。Lord Henry常说:
“Men marry because they are tired, women because they are curious; both are disappointed.”
“There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating- people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing.”
“The only difference between a caprice and a life long passion is that the caprice lasts a little longer.”
“When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving one’s self, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance.”
这样的老男人,哪怕只是出现在纸上都已经魅力无穷到叫人无法抵挡,更何况是真人,所以Wilde会直到现在都成为很多人的疯狂追捧精神ICON,他这样的人,前无古人后无来者,但也注定一辈子活得像他的戏剧一样,戏剧到无法对常规和世俗妥协。有创意,别出心裁的永远是备受争议的,但好在如今他终于被接受和推崇了。
  
Dorian本身的历程同样耐人寻味,他开始只是一个好奇单纯的好青年,意外得到了艺术家和绅士哲学家的青睐,在不知所措受宠若惊的亲密友谊中他接受了他们灌输给他的一切思想,他为自己的美与青春感到自负,他渐渐地用Lord Henry的眼睛,想法去看世界,这样甚至让他的爱人为他自尽。而他却认为这种自尽只是艺术和美的表现形式。艺术是无关道德的,这是Lord Henry告诉他的。但是这种艺术和美的追求很快像毒药一样蚕食他的心智,让他沉迷于放纵。最后心里极度惨败与扭曲的Dorian甚至杀了Basil,他认为都是这幅邪恶的作品让他堕落至此。空有数十载不变的容颜,内心却日趋腐蚀。我个人认为Dorian的经历是Wilde自己不敢尝试的一种人生在其作品中的假设性实验,最后他自己证明了这种人生的必然惨痛结果。另外,从Dorian身上反映出Wilde自己对青春和完的苛刻追求,他这样写道:”You have only a few years in which to live really, perfectly, and fully, when your youth goes, your beauty will go with it, and then you will suddenly discover there are no triumphs left for you. or have to content yourself with these mean triumphs that the memory of your past will make more bitter than defeats. Every month as it wanes brings you nearer to something dreadful. Time is jealous of you, and wars against your lilies and your roses. You will become sallow, and hollow cheeked, and dull eyed, You will suffer horribly.”一直以为只有女人才会如此害怕青春流逝,原来同样有这样的男人。但是Wilde本身是有同志倾向的男人,所以这样的观点也不足为奇。
  
不难发现,三个人物都体验了同志倾向,享乐主义,愤世嫉俗,高度艺术修养这些Wilde自己的个性特征。三个人物的三角关系就像是Wilde自己做的一场纠结的心理斗争,从一团乱麻中想试图找出一个线头来。而这团乱麻却又是精心铺设,巧思细扣的一个艺术品。最终这个线头还是被找出来了,Dorian的死成全了道德的审判,丑陋的画像没有被毁,这一刀刺在了他自己的心口。艺术与伦理在这部作品中得到了结合,应该说是通过矛盾冲突去探索一种最大化的融洽关系,但是艺术的表现在这里仍然是高于道德伦理的,这也很符合Wilde的气质。这里不得不说到电影的改编,Dorian变好这件事是没法接受了,破坏了整部作品的精神脉络,好像一支将要到高潮的古典交响乐突然变成了流行歌曲。这个结局在整部电影的失败中要负上很大一部分责任。
  
另外一直在考虑画像的涵义,从情节本身看,画像和Dorian其实是一体的,只是被戏剧化地颠倒了,内心的腐蚀表现在了画像上,画像的青春永驻却留在了真人脸上。这种戏剧性的颠倒原本应是被期盼的完美的,但却如同一根刺一样成为Dorian一生的梦魇,最终毁灭他。画像没有被诅咒,Basil没有错,Lord Henry也没有错,无知的Dorian更没有错,那么到底是谁错?到底是谁杀了Dorian Gray? 难道是美妙的艺术本身?
  
PS:
看完小说和电影之后我再看了一遍小说的perface, 突然有些新发现,头几句话其实非常有所指:
-The artist is the creator of beautiful things.应该是说Basil发现了Dorian,创造了画像。
-To reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim.画像却揭露了Basil内心的秘密。
-The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things. Lord Henry用批判的方式表达了他对Dorian的美的赞扬,却适得其反。
-The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography. 这本书其实是Wilde的一个变相自传,以批判的方式。
-No artist desires to prove anything. Even things that are true can be proved. Wilde写这篇小说的目的不是为了讨论真理,艺术无关真理,无关道德,他的观点在这里再清楚不过。
另外Wilde有关生活目的的一段分析也非常经典,或许可以解除有些人一生无法参悟的疑惑:
- The aim of life is self-development. To realize one’s nature perfectly-that is what each of us is here for. People are afraid of themselves, nowadays, they have forgotten the highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to one’s self. Of course they are charitable, They feed the hungry, and clothe naked. Courage has gone out of our race. Perhaps we never really had it. The terror of society, which is the basis of morals, the terror of God, which is the secret of religion- these are the two things that govern us. And yet-I believe that if one man were to live out his life fully and completely, were to give form to every feeling, expression to every thought, reality to every dream…”
  
-完-
  

道林·格雷Dorian Gray(2009)

又名:美少年格雷的画像 / 墮落美少年(港) / 不死魔咒 / 道·格雷的画像 / 道·格雷

上映日期:2009-09-11片长:112分钟

主演:本·巴恩斯 约翰·霍林沃思 Cato Sandford 皮普 

导演:奥利弗·帕克 编剧:Toby Finlay/奥斯卡·王尔德 Oscar Wilde

道林·格雷的影评