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 The film, which had its world premiere at the Berlin
International Film Festival on Wednesday night and opens for the
Valentine's Day weekend, is a bankable success, having racked up
record advance ticket sales in the United States and Britain.
People get something for their money, if only Johnson. She plays
the university literature graduate Anastasia Steele deflowered
by the dominating Mr Fifty Shades of Weird industrialist
Christian Grey, played by Northern Ireland's Jamie Dornan, a bit
of a cipher at least in this part of the trilogy.
Johnson, the daughter of actress Melanie Griffith in her first
major feature, has a great screen presence, a winning style with
the film's often risible lines, and possibly the most photogenic
set of cinema lips since Angelina Jolie.
Those lips, which drive Dornan's character to distraction, are
featured in many poses, including pouting, quivering and being
bitten, the last by both Johnson and Dornan.
Were it not for Johnson, the film based on the trilogy of
bondage and sadomasochism bestsellers by E.L. James, would be
all but unwatchable.
Unwatchable, except perhaps by fans of non-stop macho
consumerism, including a full range of Audi cars and a
top-of-the-line Apple laptop, and for the inventive soundtrack,
which features everything from "Beast of Burden" to Chopin.
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There are fetching location shots around Seattle and the
Pacific Northwest, and sleek interiors, but of course the main
attraction - which is seen very little in this film - is Grey's
"Red Room of Pain", fitted with bondage and sadomasochism whips
and other sex toys, where he wants to make Anastasia his
"submissive".
The books have millions of fans, and their sales, plus the launch
of the movie, have given sex toy sales a boost.
But for the legions of women - and "Fifty Shades" is almost
exclusively a female phenomenon - who could not get past page 50,
they should know that some of the most cringeworthy features of the
book, including Anastasia's cheerleader "inner goddess" who goads
her to go deeper and deeper with the messed-up Grey, are absent.
That does not mean, however, that the dialogue, or the clumsy
plotting, which drove book critics to distraction, have been
upgraded to first class in the script by Kelly Marcel and directed
by Sam Taylor-Johnson, although they may now be in premium economy.
(Michael Roddy is the European entertainment editor for Reuters. The
views expressed are his own.)
(Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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