At the end of the movie (spoiler alert), Dorian stabs the heart of the portrait, but he ends up killing himself, and the portrait returns to normal, and Dorian’s corpse ends up looking all corrupted and corroded like the portrait did. Then George Sanders’s character looks at the portrait, and at Dorian, and he says: “Heaven forgive me.”
But wasn’t George Sanders’s character also a rogue, rascal, rapscallion and reprobate? So then why does he look completely normal and uncorrupted, aside from perhaps some frosting in his hair? He was even older than Dorian, encouraged Dorian’s wickedness, and surely also led a wicked life himself, so how come he doesn’t show any signs of his wicked ways in his appearance? It seems odd to me.
Apart from that issue, I think this movie is a masterpiece.
But this issue does present itself, don’t you think? And as the whole corruption of looks and age being the deserved punishment for foul deeds thing is really the whole message of the movie, don’t you think this is a rather large discrepancy? I mean, sure, maybe George Sanders’s character never killed anyone or whatever, but he surely led a “wicked” life, full of selfishness and hedonism and the passing off of questionable and destructive “wisdom”; so how come he doesn’t suffer any of the physical corruption that Dorian does? Or maybe you need a bewitched portrait to begin with before your sins actually manifest as a corrosion of your looks: could that be it? Because if that’s the case, then never have any portraits painted if you want to be an evil, selfish hedonist, and you’ll probably look great forever!
In fact, this would make a great ad for Just for Men hair dye, when you think about it: Simply show Dorian Gray’s story in a quick montage, and then show George Sanders at the end, and the announcer says: “Poor Dorian Gray went through all that to stay young-looking when all he really needed to do was use Just for Men Hair Dye!” Then we see George Sanders’s character go home, dye his hair and beard, and then, looking like a young man again, out carousing he goes with a knowing smile on his face.
