Hermes versus Narcissus The Portrait of Dorian Gray (1945) by Albert Lewin

The Portrait of Dorian Gray (Albert Lewin, 1945) begins with a tribute to Charles Baudelaire and a reference to Hermes. These references build a network of meaning that goes beyond the simple narrative function to interrogate the issue of inspiration and the function of the work of art itself. The film thus puts in abyme the principle of the image as a portrait in which the characters contemplate themselves, also referring to the question of the "narcissistic" spectator.