Grey a bit anticlimactic
FILM | Chuck Koplinski
For any story that revolves around sex to have any sort of impact, the characters involved must be complex and appealing. If we can’t come to care about or be intrigued by them, then having them do whatever they do between the sheets means nothing. I think that director Sam Taylor-Johnson understands this, as she does her best to focus on and develop the characters in the big screen adaptation of E.L. James’ best-selling phenomenon, Fifty Shades of Grey. The sexual encounters between naïve Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey are toned down and there are far fewer of them as she and screenwriter Kelly Marcel opt to explore the relationship between these two rather than go out of their way to titillate the audience. And while the film is better than expected considering its shoddily written source material, they’re still hobbled by characters that are poorly-drawn and the casting of an inexperienced actor in one of the lead roles.
For those of you who have been living under a rock or simply aren’t up on your basic fairy tales, James’ torrid trilogy deals with Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson), a young woman who stumbles into the world of Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan), an attractive, mysterious billionaire. Without question, he’s a dreamboat and any woman with a pulse would be foolish to immediately kick him to the curb, but as with most things that are toogood-to-be-true, there’s a catch. He’s incapable of sustaining a normal, loving relationship, wired instead to be the dominant figure in a master/submissive arrangement that requires his partner to relinquish all free will and submit to his desires in all things. Obviously, Match.com is not going to be of any help to this guy.
This is nothing more than a variation on Beauty on the Beast, as Grey is well-aware his tastes run against the grain, resulting in his sequestering himself in the high tower of his darkly-tinted office building while Anastasia is the innocent who will unlock his inner prince. Throw in a bit of Twilight, (he warns her not to get involved with him), some kinky sex and sure enough, you’ve got a formula that appeals to the millions of dreamy-eyed romantics that devoured James’ books.
The problem with this is that this story and characters are wafer-thin, lacking in originality or depth. Obviously, we want to know what makes Grey tick but we get little in the way of explanation here. When questioned about his sexual predilections, he states with the sort of anguish found in the worst of soap operas, “It’s the way I am!” while the background information provided for him is sketchy at best. The child of a drug-addicted prostitute, he was taken in by the wealthy Grey family whose matriarch (Marcia Gay Harden) is a bit domineering herself. And that’s as far as it goes where the history of Mr. Grey is concerned, which isn’t far enough. Compounding matters is Dornan himself, who simply doesn’t have the presence a role like this requires. This isn’t necessarily the actor’s fault as being able to have a physical impact on screen isn’t really something you can teach. You’ve either got it or you don’t. While I don’t think he’s a great actor, I couldn’t help but think that Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) would be a more appropriate choice for the role, or perhaps a young Jeremy Irons. These two and others demand our attention when they appear and convey the notion that they could get a young woman to bend to their will. With Dornan, that’s never there.
His co-star fares much better. Johnson’s role is as thin as Dornan’s, yet the actress is able to bring more to her role because she initially doesn’t take this any more seriously than we do. Her tiny giggle while going over a contract with Grey concerning what she will and will not consent to humanizes her in an instant. Granted, her character grows and develops where Grey’s does not, allowing Johnson to show a bit of range. It should be said that this is a rather brave turn for the young actress as she’s nude and vulnerable during a good part of the film’s final hour, yet you can tell that she’s not shying away from any of it, which makes all the difference.
For aficionados of the book, I’m sure that Grey hit most of the taboo marks it was supposed to. However, for those on the outside looking in, it proves to be an anticlimactic exercise, one that takes far too long to get going, only to deliver a case of narrative interruptis with an abrupt ending that proves far more cruel than intriguing.
Contact Chuck Koplinski at [email protected].
