Not my scene but gave it a fair crack of the whip

Rating: 5/10 (21 February 2015)

I went to see this movie with my girlfriend who had read the books and wanted to see it. Otherwise I would never have watched it. I did read up before on a lot of negative reviews but decided to give it a fair crack of the whip (sorry about that one). Firstly - it wasn't as bad as it had been made out. I have seen far worse movies overall. The acting wasn't remotely electrifying - but I wouldn't say that it was abysmal or laughable. I think the main stars both actually did OK at trying to give any sort of substance to a frankly ridiculous storyline. I hadn't read the books beforehand so I didn't really know what to expect. For me the whole thing built up to nothing. It's almost as if the S+M sexual scenes were there to throw in a shock factor but stripped down there really wasn't anything else to the story. The whole movie is basically about a rich man with sadomasochistic sexual preferences who takes advantage of a vulnerable young lady who battles internally between her love for him and visions of who she wants him to be, and the loveless, selfish user that he actually is. When she gets in the elevator at the end and eventually leaves the absurd scenario she is in - I would have expected that to be the end of it all. But apparently it's not... Overall I was able to watch it and was absorbed for most of the movie. But the whole time it did feel like I was living in the daydream of some kind of bored librarian/secretary. It was like picking up one of my mum's magazines and reading in the bathroom when I was younger - a mildly amusing insight into a world alien to me - but one that would be forgotten very quickly.