Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson
Writer: Kelly Marcel (screenplay), E.L. James (novel)
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan
"I don't make love, I fuck... hard."
I can pinpoint the exact moment I first time ever came into contact with Fifty Shades of Grey(rarity for me that my memory can ever be so precise.) It was back in 2012 when the book(s) first got hot, I hadn't heard anything about them then there was a skit about it on Saturday Night Live. The first time I really became familiar with the books was when my girlfriend was reading the trilogy, she'd tell about bits and pieces of it. For the ever so slight chance that you may not be familiar with this material, Fifty Shades of Grey is about an extended love affair between a shy, virginal college student Anastasia Steele & enigmatic billionaire(not really specified what for) with some dark sexual kinks, Christian Grey. They meet by chance when Anastasia steps in for her sick roommate to interview him for their school paper. Nothing new, archetypal fantasy-romance. Girl meets vampire billionaire-boy, they fall in love, but something keeps their romance coming into full bloom. What could that be? I'm sure that the key demo for this film weren't watching for that question, but, to me, it's the most interesting part of it.
There's fireworks as soon Christian & Anastasia meet. He sits behind his desk looking over to her and she's flustered I take it because she finds him to be handsome? To be completely honest, his face looks like a potato to me, but hey... this is the guy. Couple that attraction with his cold, domineering presence and you can tell it's even harder for her to contain herself by her stammering and avoiding eye contact. There is definitely chemistry is here, but it's not in the dialogue because that's one of the worse parts of the film. Setting the trend for the rest of the film, this scene in his office is all is all visual stimuli; the piercing stares, quick shy glances, the pencil biting, desk grabbing, etc. It's foreplay. And that subtle lust-filled tension spills over to after the interview ends when Christian walks her to the elevator, it looks as if he wants to take her right then and there. The elevator doors close and Ana hastily bursts out of the building washed with wave of relief... a contrast to her clumsily falling into his office. Even more sparks fly the next time they meet when Christian pops up at her job(creepy much?) at a hardware and buys rope, tape & cable ties. Here another trend is set for the film: Christian's creepiness. At the counter when he's paying for his things, after he agreed to take pictures for Ana's friend's article, her male co-worker, Paul, comes up behind her asking if she needs him to bag the items for her(when they're already in the bag.) Christian looks at the guy like he could kill him(to be fair, he did unnecessarily touch her.) If it wasn't clear before that he wants her, it is now. It's also clear that her already sees her as his.
At the photo shoot Christian damn near interrogates Ana asking if she's involved with the photographer or her co-worker. She assures him she isn't. Afterward he takes her for coffee and things come to screeching halt when she mentions she's a romantic. He tells her he's not the man for her and that she should steer clear of him. It plays like a breakup scene which feels premature when they JUST met like two days ago. That same night Ana goes out to a bar with her roommate & the photographer. She gets tipsy and drunk-calls Christian who, even more possessively sounding than when prying into her dating status, says her he wants her to go home, asks where she is, and eventually says that he knows where she is and is coming to get her. Shortly after that, Ana stumbles out of the bar with the photographer trailing behind her who acts like he has good intentions, but really just tries to come onto her while she's inebriated. Christian pops up in just the nick of time to snatch her away... one creep combating another. The next day Ana wakes up in Christian's hotel room to new clothes and room service. Christian walks in, draped in sweat, he takes his shirt off and says "if you were mine, you wouldn't be able to sit down for a week." and she's like "What?" then he seductively(I guess) bites the toast right out of her hand. She asks Christian why she's there and he replies, as robotically as humanly possible, that he's incapable of being away from her. Ana says "Then don't." and we're off to the races.
Here begins the best and most interesting part of the movie; not the fantasy ride Christian takes Ana on with the helicopter, the big penthouse or the steamy sex that's undoubtedly catered to the female gaze(not saying there's anything wrong with that.) Next to Seamus McGarvey's beautiful & narratively involved cinematography, it's the emotional tug-of-war between the two that compels. After Christian tells Ana that he doesn't do romance he eventually shows his playroom famously known as The Red Room of Pain. He gives her a glossary of BDSM terms & tools and offers her a contract to be his sub which outlines what's to be expected of her. He claims he wouldn't have sex with her until it's signed, but after she shows reluctance and admits to being a virgin, Christian in a creepy way, is turned on by her purity and ends up having sex with her anyways. The churn in the blending of their worlds that follows suit. For the rest of the film they go back and forth over her signing the contract, still having sex (I've NEVER been more tired of seeing a woman's breasts than after watching this movie.) And we see the two start to rub off on each other; To reflect Christian, Ana becomes more stylish, her sexual appetite grows, she becomes more possessive, Dakota Johnson really immersed herself into this role. And to reflect Ana, Christian becomes more affectionate, more romantic, his steely demeanor is just peeled back in general. Unfortunately Jamie Dornan is flat all across the board with his portrayal of Christian Grey. I get he's supposed to be a cold blooded character, but there are pinpoint moments in pieces of the dialogue where he's just absolutely cringeworthy. Like the way he says dominant & submissive instead of dom & sub. That can be contributed to writing that already isn't great, but when you add Dornan's wooden delivery it just comes out even worse. He brings no nuance or charisma to the role.
When it all comes to a head and Christian finally gets a taste of what he initially wanted from Ana, she's disgusted and flat-out rejects him. I know Christian is a creep, but I still felt some sympathy for him knowing that he was a victim of abuse. The whole lore of this initial installment in the series is Christian's suave & dominant persona, but he's really a damaged person. So this shouldn't be an indictment of BDSM practices, but of his past. The film's ending is quite abrupt. Though, it feels incomplete, it denotes to me in it's brevity a statement by James & Taylor-Johnson saying this is it. Anastasia said it was over and it is. As if the scene at the elevator that mirrors the exact moment where it all began didn't underline this sentiment, the film ends with a shot of Christian being distant in a meeting and the look of film has reverted from it's vibrant scheme back it's bleak grey one to signify Christian's state of mind and then smash cuts to black. I could be looking too much into it, but that's my honest take informed by the rest of the film. As a fan of the books my girlfriend wasn't crazy about it, but exceeded my expectations. It doesn't soar to the heights of something like Von Trier's Nymphomaniac, but succeeds in overshadowing it's source material by being a refreshing and somewhat insightful erotic drama that on top of having a female gaze also displays an interesting juxtaposition of the roles in a heretonormative relationship.
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