Fifty Shades Of Grey | Film Review

 DISCLAIMER:

1. This review will not get sexually explicit at all, so if you're worried about that - Don't be!

2. This review will mention some controversial topics (Such as domestic violence). Please don't read if that's a trigger for you!

3. My opinions on the film may be a bit controversial, but they don't reflect the author, cast or crew of the film. they are just my personal opinions on the film.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday, three of my friends and I went to the cinema to see 'Fifty Shades Of Grey'.

 

My friends had no prior knowledge of the books and I had only read the first 3 chapters so we were all going in basically blind.

 

I don't want to go into the plot too much, but basically it is about a girl called Anastasia who is in her final year or uni and studying English Literature. One day her roommate Kate is sick, so to help her out, Ana interviews Christian Grey, who is something important to the university (I can't remember what). When she meets him, she is completely captivated by him. But there's a problem. He doesn't do the 'girlfriend' thing, so Ana swears off of him. That doesn't last very long though! Eventually, Ana and Christian are in a relationship (with a large sexual component), but as Christian's issues and dark problems come to light, will Ana be able to stay with him?

 

Basically, from reading the first three chapters of the book, I was really intrigued and immediately wanted to see the film.

 

I was going in looking at the film from an objective stance, a bit like a critic, so that I would be able to give an honest review of it.

After watching it, I almost wasn't going to review it, because I think that my thoughts are a bit controversial. But then my friend said that maybe a bit of controversy would be a good thing, so I thought I would just do it!

 

I'll start with the good things.

 

To be honest, even if you have no prior experience, you probably know 'Fifty Shades' for being a 'Sex Film' and I was really surprised to find that this wasn't the main element.

 

I mean, of course they do have sex, and it gets very explicit, but that's not the main point. Christian Grey is, in short, a very disturbed man. I can't reveal too much in case any of you want to see it or read it, but he is definitely not as he seems and I felt sorry for him. He's a really complex character and has a lot of layers, which I really loved.

 

As well as this, because I knew the age of the character from reading the book, I really thought that Dakota Johnson (the actress who plays Ana) would be a bit unrealistic during the film. However, I found that she was really good and portrayed the character really well. She was really realistic as Ana and I really got into her story as well as the story of Christian.

 

Now for the bad... (This part of the review is going to talk a bit about sex and domestic violence, you have been warned!)

 

When the movie finished, my dad texted me and asked me how it was. My reply was: "It was very sexist and promoted domestic violence... but I liked it"

 

That seems very harsh reading it back, but it was my initial gut reaction, and I'll tell you why.

 

In the film, Christian seems to treat Ana like a bit of a play thing. At one point, he says that he wants to be able to have sex with her in any way whenever he wants. He doesn't mention whether or not she gets a say in this, but it's clear that he doesn't really want her to. What I got was that, he wants her to consent to sex with him, but she has no say in when or how it happens, which really annoyed me.

 

As well as this, the character of Ana really annoyed me. She would regularly say that she didn't want to do anything with Christian, but within 3 minutes they were doing things. To me, that sent a lot of mixed messages. It also may say to people that, even if someone says no, they might not mean it, which I also don't like.

 

Although Christian did make a big thing about Ana consenting to the sex, I feel like if she didn't consent, things could still end up happening, which is a really scary thought.

 

I also heard many people call the film sexist. I guess this is because Christian is known as 'the dominant' and Ana is the 'submissive', so I suppose people could assume that the film is saying that a woman can't be the dominant in the relationship. I think this is a bit far-fetched, but I can kind of understand why people feel like this.

 

I don't really want to talk about why I feel it promoted domestic violence, as that is a sensitive issue and could spoil the film for anyone that wants to watch it, but I still believe that it did, especially with the ending scene.

 

Having said all of these bad things, the story was really captivating. And although this was how I interpreted the film, I don't for a second think that this is what the author, cast or crew of the film wanted to portray, this is just how I saw it.

 

I don't want anyone to use this review as a reason not to see the film, everyone should form their own opinions and not follow what everyone else thinks, which is one of the reasons that I went to see it. However, it's a certificate 18 for a very good reason and, if you're not prepared to see explicit sex scenes (amongst other things) then this really isn't the film for you, no matter how hot you think Jamie Dornan is!

 

If you want to see this film, go for it! You won't be disappointed! I really did enjoy the film, especially seeing it with my friends, it was a really nice day out. And I will probably watch it again because I liked it!

 

I'm also going to finish reading the book, because the story is really interesting. I've already read another chapter since then and I will review it when I've finished.

 

Thank you for reading, especially if this wasn't really your thing, I really appreciate it!

 

Comment below either your thoughts on 'Fifty Shades'... or something nice and fun that's nothing to do with this film!

 

Keep Smiling - Lou xx