Fifty Shades Darker, the second picture, did decline to $381 million, but these things are made on a relatively tidy budget. The first film made a very healthy $572 million. As things stand, many fans have come to see the Fifty Shades movies as a Valentine’s Day ritual. If the Weinstein revelations had emerged in October of 2014, months before the release of the first film, then the momentum might have stalled fatally. The timing could have been worse for Fifty Shades. Why, it’s almost like a film producer abusing his position in an audition. She arrives to interview him for her college newspaper and, after some oily flirting, he gets to whack her with a belt. None of this gets us past the fact that this is a story about a rich man using his power to inveigle a less advantaged woman into sexual and professional submission. James Bond has always been a misogynist dinosaur.Bad sex in the movies: from Top Gun to Fifty Shades.To press home the point, Christian leaps in to defend Anastasia when a sleazeball presses himself on her in a bar. At times, 50 Shades of Grey comes across a film about the conveyancing of real estate. The hilariously named Anastasia Steele has to sign an abundance of forms confirming she has agreed to be “submissive” to the sinisterly boring Christian Grey. The films are even clearer than the books in asserting that the sexual violence is consensual. When the first book emerged in 2011, more than a few commentators raised eyebrows at the apparent celebration of an abusive relationship. As bad things go, the 50 Shades things are very bad indeed. Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson aren’t bad in the main roles. We could suggest that the success has taken some of the shame out of reading erotica. We could argue that EL James, author of the source books, proved that it’s never too late to become a sensation. We could point out that it serves a largely female demographic still too often ignored by Hollywood (on its opening weekend, the first film skewed 70 per cent female). It would be better to compose a piece explaining why Fifty Shades is a good thing. It’s easy to make fun of the continuing spanky series. Donald Trump is president of the United States. It is possible the distributors are holding back because they fear reactions may be so positive the picture will struggle to meet subsequent expectations. Fifty Shades Freed, the third film in the trilogy, will not be press-screened until 24 hours before its release on Friday. My negativity may, of course, be premature. We can say one positive thing about the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. “How about: ‘I’m delighted it’s over’?” he suggested. “What can we say that’s positive?” I wondered. It stank.Īfterwards, I consulted another pal in the foyer. Some years ago, an acquaintance of mine made a film that did not achieve everything it set out to achieve.
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