Fifty Shades of Grey (Rated C)
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan
Genre: Drama
Dwight’s Rating: 2 STARS
It could have been much worse! Well, at least, I was expecting much, much worse!
That’s not to say “Fifty Shades of Grey” is the paragon on filmmaking. While production-wise, it is well-executed, with interesting uses of lighting, some elaborately modern sets, a reasonably attractive cast, and an intriguing soundtrack, below the surface, there are quite a few issues.
If you haven’t heard of “Fifty Shades of Grey”, you’ve probably been stranded on a deserted island in the Pacific since before the start of the decade. One of the most hotly anticipated films in recent years, the movie is based on the 2011 best-selling E.L. James erotic romance novel of the same name, which has sold more than 100 million copies in 51 languages worldwide.
The movie stars Dakota Johnson (daughter of actors Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson of “Miami Vice” fame) as college senior Anastasia Steele, who steps in for her sick roommate to interview prominent businessman Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) for their campus newspaper. Ana and Christian find themselves drawn to each other, and rather quickly, the sexually inexperienced Ana is pulled into Christian’s obsession with sadomasochism (S&M), particularly “bondage and discipline” (BDSM).
The novel has gained notoriety for its graphic depiction of the couple’s sexual exploits, especially the BDSM, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism. As such, many had been concerned that the movie would essentially be soft-core porn, or even worse!
Indeed, the number of sex scenes reaches a level we haven’t seen in theaters in quite a few years. These days, we’re much more likely to see one … possibly two, explicit (and usually out-of-place) sex scenes. In “Fifty”, we get a not excessive amount, but certainly a steady stream of sex — enough for it to actually begin to border on tiresome.
The problem is that while we don’t need or want to judge what consenting adults do behind closed doors, [but] it does feel exceptionally weird to watch prolonged and repeated scenes of this form of BDSM on the big screen. It also feels like one colossal step back for the women’s rights movement. Christian wants to dominate Ana — wants to tell her what to do and what to say, when to touch him, what to talk to him about. He also wants her to sign lengthy contracts, allowing him to do any of the many things he wants to do to her.
Essentially, he wants a sex slave! So mainly, “Fifty” is just an X-rated fairytale about two “weirdos” and their kinky sex practices. We are made to watch two hours of a woman degrading herself for gifts from a wealthy millionaire.
The movie is slightly more successful exploring the non-sex and the more romantic aspects of the relationship between naïve Ana and Christian, an android with sociopathic tendencies, who, along with his many other weird habits and fetishes, has some strange (unexplained in the movie) obsession with Audis. (I haven’t read the books.) In many ways, it’s your typical burgeoning relationship, with two people working things out — but this is drowned out by the whips, ties and belts.
And that bring us to another part of the problem. Besides all that sex, there really isn’t much of a plot here! It’s so uneventful that it’s like we’re watching scenes from a really freaky weekly primetime soap opera. Just as the novel is the first in a series of books, it is obvious that this is the beginning of a film franchise. At the end of the viewing I attended, there were loud groans in the theater as we learned there would be no conclusion at this time to what little drama we had actually been witnessing. Tune in next time for another episode, folks!
So the devolution of films into TV serials continues. If only movies would aspire to the quality of the upper echelon of today’s best television series. The only bright side for now is that at least movies aren’t yet emulating reality TV! You see, it really could be a lot worse!
Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian
