Even though the sex is far from transgressive in the film adaptation of E. L. James’ bestseller.
Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson in Fifty Shades of Grey
Universal Pictures
There are maybe 20 minutes of sex, tops, in Fifty Shades of Grey. That's counting the spanking scene, which ends not with a climax but with Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) smugly declaring, "Welcome to my world."
This isn't a measure I generally take of a movie, but then again, this isn't just any studio romance — this is the big-screen adaptation of E. L. James' monster best-seller, the first book in her Twilight fan-fiction-turned-erotic-novel trilogy about the eternal, BDSM-inflected love between billionaire Christian Grey and recent college grad Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson), the ne plus ultra of wide-eyed ingenues. Sex — kinky sex — has been the central appeal of the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise. It's the reason various groups, from conservative Christian organizations to social media movements against domestic violence, have taken stances against the film, which opens in theaters on Feb. 13, just in time for Valentine's Day. It's the reason Dornan and Johnson have spent multiple interviews elaborating on how unsexy sex scenes are to shoot.
Sex is the main selling point of Fifty Shades of Grey, but the scenes in which Dornan and Johnson get down in Grey's marble-filled Seattle penthouse are, inevitably, the least provocative part of the movie, which is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (Nowhere Boy) from a screenplay by Kelly Marcel. How can they not be? Beneath the bold trappings, Fifty Shades of Grey is a tastefully R-rated adaptation of a book that's really an updated bodice-ripper about a virgin winning the heart of a rake. Its vision of BDSM is monogamous, mild, and reserved for the red leather-lined sanctity of Christian's playroom — Cosmo-style dominance and submission involving silk ties, blindfolds, and ice cubes.
Universal Pictures
Aside from the unexpected and totally welcome presence of pubic hair, there's nothing in the few Fifty Shades of Grey sex scenes that is nearly as daring as what you can regularly find on premium cable. Whether being deflowered or flogged, Anastasia unfailingly and effortlessly achieves orgasm, Johnson gamely tossing her head back and gasping in pleasure as soon as her co-star comes near. Christian lectures his lover on safe words and limits, but we never see them come up. Until the climactic (heh) scene, everything he tries goes over perfectly, even if his partner has no particular investment in his preferred modes of play.
It's in the other 100-plus minutes of Fifty Shades of Grey that the movie really gets interesting, putting its fantasy of emotional withholding up on screen in all its troubling, alluring, and strikingly female-focused glory. Let's be honest: There's nothing audacious about Dornan's picture-perfect appeal when he pulls off his shirt (which he does many times, in an impressive variety of ways) to reveal his sculpted torso with its scattering of backstory burn scars. No, it's how Christian acts when he's not taking Anastasia to bed that's so challenging: He tracks down her place of work just to see her again after they first meet; he traces her to and retrieves her from the club where she's gotten drunk postgraduation; he shows up inside her apartment with champagne when she ignores him; he follows her to Georgia when she travels to visit her mom (Jennifer Ehle), without telling her he's coming, because a few days apart is apparently too much.
