And on another, there's its emotional drama about being the focus of someone's obsession - and it's the latter that I feel more interested in (and conflicted about). On one level, there's its already notorious, if pretty damn mild, depictions of BDSM. But the film feels to me like a double fantasy.
But what I hadn't expected when we published my review was an instant reaction from people who saw the central relationship between Christian Grey ( Jamie Dornan) and Anastasia Steele ( Dakota Johnson) as abusive in the books and were unhappy that it wasn't being called out as such.įifty Shades of Grey isn't exactly a feminist milestone, though the movie version of Ana felt like she had more agency and self-awareness than the book incarnation, at least as filtered through the scattered excerpts of it that I've read. It was also the source of much absolutely unsurprising advance controversy. Alison Willmore: The film adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey was an absolutely unsurprising hit before it ever reached theaters, setting ticket presale records and getting green-lit as a trilogy ahead of the book's many, many fans actually getting to see it.
