A roller-coaster ride

Rating: 6/10 (11 February 2015)

As a movie that has been hyped in all different ways - BDSM encouraging, feminist offender, female-freedom inspiring - we can say it surpasses all expectations. And that's not much.
Inspired by the novel by E. L. James (which has been called sophomoric and amateur), the page-to-screen transition has been done successfully. Even if you can feel the exact lines taken from the book sounding cheesy among the speech adaptations, all the worst lines are gone, but you can find lots of Christian's I-can-play-the- piano moments.
The movie goes fast-then-slow, paced strangely between little gags and seriously-taken moments. It never stops, though.
Dakota Johnson steals the movie for most of the time. Her performance is so builded-up as the movie goes that you can actually feel the journey she's going through. Jamie Dornan, as unfittable as he might have looked in the previews, "is" Mr. Grey. His shadowy behavior and self-trust is perfect.
Luke Grimes, Rita Ora, Eloise Mumford, all fitting their roles. JosÃ©, though, seems too forced. Supporting roles are reduced to a minimum, making the whole movie feel like an intimate observation of their relationship.
Sam Taylor-Wood seems to have done her best with the source material (even with the original author limitations on her work). It's a rare situation when the film surpasses the book by miles. She knows almost exactly when to play funny and when to go hard. Cinematography is top-notch, even if the aerial shots look reminiscent of Twilight.
It's a beautiful movie that tries to go deep, steps back and then ends abruptly just when you wanted more.