There is one undeniable and rare quality in “Fifty Shades of Grey”: The movie is better than the book it’s adapted from. This should surprise but not excite you. It isn’t much better. “Fifty Shades of Grey” doesn’t go too far.
E. L. James’ erotic novel is poorly written and this poverty shows up much before the plot kicks in, which tells the story of a college student falling in love with a powerful man. The opening shots of “Fifty Shades of Grey,” however, provide a glimpse of hope.
They are well composed and linked by fluid movements. The angles of Mr. Grey running through Seattle and the shots inside his closet form a nice opening credits sequence. It is without a doubt a much more refined introduction than the one in the book.
The qualities of “Fifty Shades of Grey” stop here, however. The biggest problem of the movie is its representation of sadomasochist relationships. In these relationships, partners agree to a game of power. Common activities can include erotic spanking or whipping. This game is consensual and both parties, the dominating and the submissive, derive pleasure from it.
Two films that explore these relationships well are “Bitter Moon” by Roman Polanski and “Secretary” by Steven Shainberg. Both movies contain a realistic portrayal of sadomasochism since the characters clearly show an understanding of what this game of power entails. It must also be said that Polanski’s film is one of the best movie of the 1990s, grabbing the attention of the audience immediately and never letting it go.
Therefore, it isn’t the topic that causes “Fifty Shades of Grey” to be a bad film. The movie is bad because it makes the crucial mistake of glamorizing and romanticizing sadomasochism even though there is nothing romantic in it.
In the movie, Anastasia (Dakota Johnson) falls in love and this love leads to her submission. She is not deriving pleasure from this game and only does it to be with Mr. Grey (Jamie Dornan). People who practice sadomasochism do it for pleasure and although love can come later, it is not the goal.
Many of these flaws come straight from the novel. Director Sam Taylor-Johnson must be congratulated for transforming a book with serious writing deficiencies into a movie that is at least watchable. Her directing, however, fails in the way her actors play out the scenes.
Dornan’s performance of Grey is almost comical. Throughout the whole movie, from the very beginning to the very end, he speaks in a dreamlike tone of voice. He almost seems to beg the female audience to fall in love with him even before he can finish his first sentence. The result is flat and disastrous acting.
The same happens with Dakota Johnson. Her character embodies all imaginable clichés of the innocent girl who is enchanted by a guy. Her performance is better than Dornan’s, but her character never resembles anyone who takes part in sadomasochism and her role falls completely apart.
To make sadomasochism seem romantic is the big mistake of Fifty Shades of Gray. As a movie, however, the images are well composed and edited. It carries the weak and unreal story of the book, but it is, ultimately, a better product and thus worth of a passing grade. That’s not saying much, however.
