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Based on the runaway best selling book by E.L. James, 2015's Fifty Shades of Grey is a stylishly expensive and undeniably erotic look at a previously unexplored aspect of sexuality in a mainstream theatrical film. It should be mentioned at this point that this review is coming from someone who did not read the book upon which the film is based.
The film recounts the accidental meeting between a college student named Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) and an enigmatic billionaire named Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan)...the attraction/heat between these two is immediate and neither shy from it, but these are two people who are looking for very different things in terms of a relationship. Anastasia is looking to be romanced but it is slowly revealed that Grey doesn't do romance: he is a sexual dominant, who is into rough sex where he dominates women and has the women he becomes involved with sign a lengthy and detailed contract detailing exactly what is expected of them.
This film is alternately titillating and disturbing as it offers no simple answers and provides us with three dimensional characters, perhaps a little too three dimensional for us to accept everything that happens here. It is revealed early on here that Anastasia is a virgin, which makes it hard to believe that the first time Christian shows her his "playroom", she doesn't go screaming into the night, yet we accept Christian's seduction of the girl because despite his sexual proclivities, Christian is a gentleman and always up front about what he wants. His seduction of Anastasia is subtle...there is a moment not long after their first meeting where he sees her bite her lip and tells her he needs to do that. Even Christian's off screen recitation of "the contract" makes it hard to dislike the man because it is perfectly clear, free of a lot of a legalese...we know that Anastasia knows exactly what she's getting into. Further sympathy is developed for Christian when it is revealed that his first sexual experience was six years as a submissive to a woman, making us understand him, even if we don't like him, but we do. Ironically, despite all of the sex scenes here, my favorite scene in the film found our leads fully dressed...the scene where Anastasia goes to Christian's office to renegotiate the contract is brilliantly written and directed.
Kelly Marcel's intricate screenplay does its best to keep the characters true to themselves even though the story may not and director Sam Taylor-Johnson definitely has an eye for what is erotic. The movie is expensively mounted and beautiful to look at, with some outstanding editing as are Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, who spend a great deal of the film in the nude and manage to present characters we care about, even if we're not crazy about what they're doing. An adult love story that sometimes stretches credibility but never allows your eyes to leave the screen.
Based on the runaway best selling book by E.L. James, 2015's Fifty Shades of Grey is a stylishly expensive and undeniably erotic look at a previously unexplored aspect of sexuality in a mainstream theatrical film. It should be mentioned at this point that this review is coming from someone who did not read the book upon which the film is based.
The film recounts the accidental meeting between a college student named Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) and an enigmatic billionaire named Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan)...the attraction/heat between these two is immediate and neither shy from it, but these are two people who are looking for very different things in terms of a relationship. Anastasia is looking to be romanced but it is slowly revealed that Grey doesn't do romance: he is a sexual dominant, who is into rough sex where he dominates women and has the women he becomes involved with sign a lengthy and detailed contract detailing exactly what is expected of them.
This film is alternately titillating and disturbing as it offers no simple answers and provides us with three dimensional characters, perhaps a little too three dimensional for us to accept everything that happens here. It is revealed early on here that Anastasia is a virgin, which makes it hard to believe that the first time Christian shows her his "playroom", she doesn't go screaming into the night, yet we accept Christian's seduction of the girl because despite his sexual proclivities, Christian is a gentleman and always up front about what he wants. His seduction of Anastasia is subtle...there is a moment not long after their first meeting where he sees her bite her lip and tells her he needs to do that. Even Christian's off screen recitation of "the contract" makes it hard to dislike the man because it is perfectly clear, free of a lot of a legalese...we know that Anastasia knows exactly what she's getting into. Further sympathy is developed for Christian when it is revealed that his first sexual experience was six years as a submissive to a woman, making us understand him, even if we don't like him, but we do. Ironically, despite all of the sex scenes here, my favorite scene in the film found our leads fully dressed...the scene where Anastasia goes to Christian's office to renegotiate the contract is brilliantly written and directed.
Kelly Marcel's intricate screenplay does its best to keep the characters true to themselves even though the story may not and director Sam Taylor-Johnson definitely has an eye for what is erotic. The movie is expensively mounted and beautiful to look at, with some outstanding editing as are Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan, who spend a great deal of the film in the nude and manage to present characters we care about, even if we're not crazy about what they're doing. An adult love story that sometimes stretches credibility but never allows your eyes to leave the screen.