Review // Fifty Shades of Grey

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Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson star in Fifty Shades of Grey, the erotic film event of the year. I never read the source material by E.L. James (nor do I have any desire to) but I was genuinely excited to see it come to the big screen. The trailer made the film seem sensual, tantalizing and intriguing, plus, the relatively unknown Dornan is a fox. Despite hearing rumblings that the book was actually quite offensive to members of the BDSM community, women, and billionaires, I figured I should try to look past that and embrace what should otherwise be a fun movie going experience.

I got the sense that a lot had been toned down in the film – there is just one BDSM montage, its long but still, just one. The strong and controlling character of Christian Grey came off more as weak, petulant and manipulative. This may have been a choice made by Dornan and director Sam Taylor-Johnson or maybe since I was not attracted to the character I noticed his flaws more clearly. Throughout the film Dornan looked bored – and rightly so. That excitement I was hoping for from this film was never realized. It’s not a horrible hot mess of a movie (although part of me wishes it was) it’s just mediocre and doesn’t live up to the hype brought on by the “phenomenon” of the stimulating book series.

Basically, it could have gone one of two ways to be a worthwhile watch: be a complete hot mess or be a decent film. I think the flaw to my reasoning was I didn’t know the source material, that the plot and characters are so unlikeable that it had no chance of becoming a good film. This film should have been a spectacular disaster. However, director Taylor-Johnson actually attempted to make a decent film, and she came close. Unfortunately, the end result was underwhelming.

The character of Anastasia or Ana starts off utterly boring, the goal of course is make her the wallflower-every-girl so that viewers can identify. When the film started I found her incredibly unlikable. Her lack of self-esteem, her wispy, naive nature didn’t read “every girl” but rather a bad attempt at the bookish virgin. Thankfully, Dakota Johnson managed to flesh out Ana as the film progressed and made her a fully realized character. Johnson was coy, funny and showed a strong range in the lead role. Another highlight of the film is the music, which is brilliant. If you haven’t listened to the soundtrack, you should. Even if soulful pop ballads aren’t your cup of tea, the use of the songs in the film was very well done. It seemed like a lot of thought went into every scene and that Taylor-Johnson tried to use everything in her arsenal to create loads of tension to build up to the eventual climax (pardon the pun). But the script doesn’t allow for it.

The script – from screenwriter Kelly Marcel – was heavily influenced by the author, who was pretty involved in the entire film making process. Championing for the fans, James was opposed to any changes to dialogue and removal of key scenes.

Here’s an example of the terrible dialogue. Ana has just signed a non-disclosure agreement given to her by Christian (is that normal when dating a billionaire? Maybe if he’s into bondage…) and as soon as she signs, this gem comes out of her mouth:

“Are you going to make love to me now?”

I cringed. What self-respecting woman says that? It wasn’t said in a flirtatious way but posed as a genuine question. His response is supposed to be hot and a little dangerous:

“Two things you need to know about me, I never make love. I f*ck…hard.”

I laughed. It was just ridiculous. This was a crucial moment in developing both characters and their relationship but it just didn’t work as anything other than comical. Maybe I’m off base with what’s supposed to be sexy but it was a packed theatre and I wasn’t the only one laughing.

Dialogue aside, my biggest beef with the script is that the conflicts are never resolved. Christian and Ana have plenty of issues but nothing comes from them. The differences that keep them apart are never dealt with, just conveniently forgotten in favour of an illicit rendezvous, until the same issue comes up again. This probably led to the boredom of the film. The whole movie is just a rehash of the same fight. When we finally reach the climax – Ana insists she get the worst punishment Christian has in store for her – it’s dull. Sure, she’s upset, and he’s upset, but the audience can see it coming from a mile away. It’s not like they were building up some great romance full of compromise and compassion, it seemed more like a fleeting tryst with lots of alluring activities. Fifty Shades of Grey ends abruptly, and after waiting so long to get to that final release, audiences must settle for a cold shower.

Reviewed by Vithiya Murugadas.