Fifty Shades of Grey = Review from a super fan point of view

 Karoline Boucher @jamiedornancan

Lead actor Jamie Dornan warned the public months ago: « the movie adaptation of author E L James’ 2012 Fifty Shades of Grey will be toned down so bums would fill the seats in cinemas. » So this shouldn’t be a surprise to eager fans who had been waiting for almost 2 years to see their new kind of modern fantasy turn to life with less kink and graphic representation they envisioned in their very open and witty mind.

Though Fifty Shades of Grey is the first film since 9 1/2  weeks to tackle romance telling in ways that will likely set the standards for on-screen lovemaking for the years to come, Dornan’s warning wouldn’t shove aside the most hard-line Fifty readers’ expectations.  That’s why today’s reviewers are complaining about the lack of sex and hard-core BDSM behaviour they’d awaited to witness with mouths open wide.

What reviewers – or perhaps long time haters –  seem to consign to oblivion and what fans grasped hands down right away is that the BDSM aspect in the story line  is used as a mean to an end only. It serves the plot line, more specifically, to depict Christian Grey’s tormented state of mind he’s in since childhood.

Of course, one would be a fool to deny many eyefuls on Jamie Dornan’s bulging bod nor Dakota Johnson’s sleek and sexy goddess figure, but focusing only on the container will make you overlook the content : Fifty Shades is first and foremost a love story, with a kinky add-on.

From the moment they set eyes on each other, Ana and Christian are taken aback by overwhelming feelings they each seem to experience for the first time. Slowly, perhaps awkwardly, they try to tame their attraction to one another by playing will and power over each other until they break one another down to their true nature they never knew they’d have.

Director Sam Taylor-Johnson, in her first high-profiled opus, showcases her vision on the falling of a young virgin college graduate for a powerful control-freak and conflicted billionaire by stripping down the plot line of everything unnecessaries and airy-fairy to acutely frame the growing chemistry and love connections between her two main characters. What results is a cute, fast-paced but fluid camerawork by Taylor-Johnson’s sophisticated photography and balance atmosphere she creatively set forward that serve the purpose gracefully.

Kelly Marcel’s screenplay enhances the book’s dialogues without failing to include the now mythical quotes like « I don’t make love, I fuck hard » and « Laters Baby » all fans aim to hear. She even finds a way to bring Jamie’s and Dakota’s comic instincts fans knew they had on set up on the screen to give viewers a nice balance and little relief to the dark and tensed scenes Sam Taylor-Johnson manages to convey with much skills.

Because of the nature of character E L James gave to Christian Grey, Jamie Dornan, who’s a self-taught actor, doesn’t have much to work with to show how gifted and versatile an actor he can be.  The final couple of scenes though, where one takes full measure of Christian’s struggle to stay true to his massively conflicted beliefs – a dominant taking pleasure in exercising control on consensual  women to express whatever he feels – or to overlook his boundaries to keep the woman he unknowingly fell in love with are pushing up front Dornan’s high intensity and award-winning acting capabilities he’s known for.

His portraying of every female fantasy man is accurate, committed and sizzling hot, bringing the steam up the scale, something haters said he would never succeed in accomplishing.

Dakota Johnson, daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson and soon to be a household name of her own, steals the show by nailing Ana’s character to perfection. She’s refreshing and convincing in every way: as an inexperienced virgin fearing to discover her sexuality under Christian’s terms, as well as an intelligent strong woman willing to risk her first real love to stay true to her convictions. She excels with her comic timing leading us to wink at her inner alter egos depicted in the book.

Team Fifty said the movie was made to please the fans and they are fat right, because the fan in you will be quite pleased. You’ll be glad you went for your own benefits and pleasures.