Starring:
Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Jennifer Ehle
Directed by: Sam Taylor Johnson Written by: E.L James (novel) Kelly Marcel (screenplay)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Rating: 18
Having not jumped on the Fifty Shades Of Grey hype when the
Twilight fanfiction turned multi-million dollar book franchise (E. L James)
first emerged, people often query where my hatred of the series comes from. After
learning what this phenomenon was about, I questioned how a story that was
basically just about sex could take the world (albeit, mainly middle-aged
women) by storm. “It’s porn for people in denial!” I’d tell my Mom, after
swearing I’d disown her if she read the books. However, as I became more
educated in feminist culture, my disgust with the franchise developed into a
strong disagreement based mainly on the unhealthy concept of one man’s obsessive
and creepy control over his female lover.
Since 2012, women all over the world have been swooning and
drooling over Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan), the sexy billionaire who seduces the
timid Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson), then introduces her to “his world” of bondage
and S&M sex, asking her to sign a legal contract accepting to become his
“submissive”. The film follows the pair as they try negotiate the terms of
their relationship – if you can call sexual slavery a relationship – and that
is pretty much all it is about.
This story was not intended to be as violating as it comes
across. I understand that Fifty Shades Of Grey is a guilty pleasure for women and men who wish to indulge in something
that is - apparently - the perfect balance of romance and pornography… but
there is something very off-putting and offensive to watch - for me and surely
others – about the way Mr Grey exercises his power over Anastasia. Whether this
be in the bedroom or not, what I saw was a controlling boyfriend who wants full
possession over his girlfriend, demanding she follow all of his rules and admit
she is “his”. To me, this is not sexy or passionate, nor adorable or loving in
any sense. It’s weird, unhealthy and undesirable, so this apparently “romantic”
film became extremely uncomfortable to watch at times.
I tried to see past my disagreement with the storyline in
general and focus on what was at hand. By no means do I want to watch a movie
all about sex (I could just watch porn?) but this is a film about sex, so I expected to see sex and I expected to
enjoy it. However, I was disappointed. You wouldn’t want to watch this film
with your parents that’s for sure, but given the hype and the 18 rating, I
wanted a bit more for my money. It was so
boring. Johnson and Dornan depict a shallow chemistry and scenes (sex scenes
included) simply drag. The best part was watching Johnson portray a hilariously
drunk Ana as a character with spark and humour, however this was the first and
last showing of that. Sadly, she fell back into the vapid female she was
written as.
As far as sex films go (this was my first) I can’t say I am
impressed. Similarly, as far as romance films go, if this is romance then
there’s something seriously up. I tried to like this movie, but with its
questionable storyline told in the dullest of ways, Fifty Shades Of Grey is
arguably one of the most disappointing films to come out of cinema.
