Can't wait for the out-takes...

Rating: 7/10 (17 February 2015)

First I had to negotiate the Odeon Leicester Square's bizarre pricing policy (although the cinema's signage stated seats cost £16, the box office boy told me they were actually £17 - some sort of first week supplement, apparently. Fair enough, but update your signage to match, Odeon - false advertising is not good!) Then I could settle down to watch the most talked-about film of the year.
The plot is largely Mills and Boon territory - student Anastasia (Dakota Johnson) interviews rich-yet-sexy businessman Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) for her university's newspaper. He is enigmatic, remote and mysterious; she naïve, virginal and innocent, so - as these things always go - they are instantly smitten with each other. Christian romances her with his smooth talk ("I won't touch you without your express written permission" he says romantically) while Anastasia dithers about whether she wants to agree to his demands.
The wrinkle in the plot is, as is well known, Christian's bedroom activities: he's a 'dominant', and wants Ana to be on the receiving end of his collection of ropes, handcuffs, whips (and dildos, mentioned but never shown - a bit like Dornan's flesh-and-blood one). But the sex scenes make little use of these utensils: indeed, by some standards they're relatively tame - if a little more frequent - than some material seen in films nowadays. The lack of a full-frontal shot from Dornan has been widely commented on, but I think it was the right decision: the mysterious and enigmatic Christian would seem a little less so if we saw everything he has to offer and, let's face it, many men don't look that impressive frontally naked unless they're erect - and Hollywood was never going to show *that*. Perhaps if the film had been made in the UK or Europe?
Given the clichéd nature of the material, the acting is acceptable. Johnson (who looks very much like her father Don, lending an unexpected dimension to the close-up shots of her and Dornan kissing!) makes a likable and believable heroine, caught up in something completely new and perhaps disgusted that she finds it exciting. The Irish Dornan delivers a passable American accent (but why not hire an American actor?) and, with subtle twitches of the lips or soulful glances of his mis-sized eyes, conveys a bit more depth to the stereotyped romantic hero. Plus they both look very nice naked, although given director Sam Taylor-Johnson's liberal use of close-ups, it's not always possible to tell whether we're seeing Johnson and Dornan's bits or those belonging to the many stunt players listed in the cast list. The set-designers - not usually a group of people I think to praise - do well too, from Ana's cheerfully chaotic apartment, through Christian's expensive interior-designer-sterile apartment, to his red-themed rumpus room.
Is the film worth seeing? Yes. It has more depth than the books' smutty reputation would suggest, and I am sufficiently interested in the characters to hope the open ending is closed in a possible sequel (not having read the books, I don't know how the story ends - or even if this film covers all the story written by E L James).
And I can't wait to see the out-takes section of the DVD...