Review: Fifty Shades of Grey
With any literary adaptation, one hopes to equal, improve upon, or surpass the source material. Part of the trick is to assess how it can be translated into another medium. What works on the page does not necessarily work on the screen. Fidelity is optional, the spirit rather than the letter of the work should be the main objective. E.L. James' hugely successful Fifty Shades trilogy - over 100 million copies sold worldwide - seems a singular exception to this as neither the spirit nor the letter of the work lends itself to any coherent, non-risible transfer. Credit director Sam Taylor-Johnson and screenwriter Kelly Marcel for fashioning a mildly watchable film out of what initially began as Twilight fan fiction.
As with Twilight, the template of the push-pull romance between fair maiden and darkhearted beast is embellished with the unconventional - instead of vampires and werewolves, restraints and floggers. Sexually inexperienced romantic Anastasia "Ana" Steele (Dakota Johnson) finds herself in the forbiddingly sleek offices of Grey House, where she literally stumbles in to interview Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan), the obscenely wealthy and handsome supercapitalist. He's still and self-contained, she's flushed and fidgety. An attraction is established and the pursuit begins.
Christian is soon appearing at the hardware store where she works, purchasing cable ties and masking tape ("You're the complete serial killer," she jokes); rescuing her from the advances of her friend; lavishing her with various gifts - all the while warning her to steer clear of him. "I'm not the man for you," he insists, his words serving to tempt her even more. She soon discovers the depths of his decidedly singular tastes when he reveals his playroom, which is populated with various S&M gear which he can use to bind, gag, clamp, lash, and whip a submissive partner to his heart's content. He proposes Ana be his submissive, a role that requires her to "willingly surrender yourself to me...to please me."
Taylor-Johnson is a talented individual. A lauded artist, she made the very fine Nowhere Boy in which she directed future husband Aaron Johnson as John Lennon during his early years as he navigated the tug of war between his free-spirited mother Julia (Anne-Marie Duff) and his stern aunt Mimi (Kristin Scott Thomas). She and Marcel, at times, uncover an irreverence in the drivel that may have been tamped down or discouraged by James, who was accorded an unprecedented amount of creative control for someone who had never been significantly involved in a film, much less written a screenplay. Look no further than the scene in which Christian and Ana negotiate the terms of the dominant-submissive contract to see the skeleton of the battle of the sexes rendered as an Austen-like lighthearted comedy. This is Fifty Shades at its most erotic and comic, completely at ease with its own silliness and not taking itself so seriously. Nothing else in the film, including the sex scenes, match the playfulness and just plain sexiness that spark between the two leads.
Dornan has proven himself a darkly charismatic figure in The Fall, deploying his good looks to ensnare women into his dangerous games. BDSM is least worrisome aspect of Grey's character - the possessiveness and stalkerish behaviour ring louder warning bells. Yet for all the damage and conflict that's meant to be within Grey, the character is intensely weightless and all efforts to vivify this figure of fantasy leech Dornan of his magnetism. Johnson fares better, if only because she has more to work with, and acquits herself more than admirably. Her Ana is tougher than she appears and her increasing assertion as she realises the imbalance of their relationship is well-charted.
The problem with the film, apart from its overwhelming capacity to bore, is that the story is simply too wispy to be stretched out over the course of three books much less one single film. The sequels are all but guaranteed - one can only hope that the final installment will not be split into two parts to maximise the franchise's commercial prospects. That would truly be an unbearable torture.
Fifty Shades of Grey
Directed by: Sam Taylor-Johnson
Written by: Kelly Marcel; adapted from E.L. James' novel
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Eloise Mumford, Marcia Gay Harden, Jennifer Ehle, Luke Grimes, Rita Ora, Max Martini
