Shades whipped into classy shape
FIFTY SHADES OF GREY ( Cert 18: 125 mins)
VALENTINE’S Day is traditionally a time for hearts and flowers, soft- centred chocolates and intimate dinners. This year it could be defined by riding crops and silk ties, red rope and masking tape as the much anticipated screen version of E L James’ bestseller 50 Shades Of Grey looks set to become the date- movie of choice over the coming weekend.
Some stinging reviews did nothing to cool the ardour of the book- buying public and the film’s commercial appeal is unlikely to be diminished one iota by any lack of fervour from us grumpy film critics.
The good news is that the film is a considerable improvement on the book.
It is a good deal more fun for a start and comes close to acknowledging that the whole thing is ripe for heavybreathing parody.
It dispenses with a lot of turgid monologues, toe- curling dialogue and some of the more notorious passages.
The sadomasochistic central relationship is still one of domination and pain but this is bondage whipped up in the best possible taste and set to a seductive soundtrack from Beyoncé and Ellie Goulding.
The film may have been slapped with an 18 certificate by the British censor but in a decision likely to disappoint his many besotted admirers there is no full- frontal exposure of Jamie Dornan.
The film looks as sleek and inviting as the poshest interior- design magazine but in the end it is only a slightly racier, classier version of a typical Mills & Boon fantasy. If you have been awaiting the film with breathless anticipation then you might experience a real sense of anticlimax.
Dakota Johnson, the daughter of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, gives the film’s best performance, running the gamut of wideeyed innocence and flustered desire as shy, virginal college girl Anastasia Steele. Fate lands her an interview with Christian Grey ( Dornan) but what could possibly attract her to this billionaire businessman with the looks of a model and the physique of an athlete?
Jane Eyre’s Mr Rochester was never so glowering or mysterious.
All brooding stares and smouldering confidence Dornan’s Grey sees something in the shy flutter of Anastasia’s eyelashes that is irresistible.
This is a man who declares he has no appetite for love and romance. He has very “singular” tastes and you already know that doesn’t mean he has a fondness for a Thai curry and a Babycham.
He also has a playroom that doesn’t house a dartboard and a snooker table. There is a definite chemistry between