Millions of fans of Fifty Shades of Grey are expected to flock to the release of the erotic movie based on the popular book – despite the story being rubbished by critics, writes Marc Burleigh.
With so much attention on the film, some groups against domestic violence have urged a boycott, arguing that it glamorises the abuse of women. (AFP)
Fifty Shades of Grey, the long-anticipated movie version of the bestselling erotic novel, began its worldwide rollout on Wednesday, with sex-savvy France one of the first to catch a glimpse.
The film, starring Jamie Dornan as a billionaire with a penchant for S&M and Dakota Johnson as a virginal student who falls under his sway, is being marketed as a torrid touchstone for a generation too young to remember Nine and a Half Weeks or Last Tango in Paris.
The official premiere of the film was to take place at the Berlin film festival with the cast in attendance – hours after the movie opened to the public in theatres across France, Germany, Belgium, Serbia and the Philippines.
Unusually, the movie’s studio Universal Pictures did not allow reviewers to see the film until the last minute. That fuelled rumours of trouble on set caused by the two lead actors detesting each other, and female director Sam Taylor-Johnson and the book’s British author EL James arguing over how scenes should be shot.
Critics rubbish the story
The tens of millions of hardcore fans of the 2011 novel and its two sequels will no doubt crowd the opening days of the movie’s showing, ignoring once again the critics who have rubbished the story as dull and thin of plot.
The story focuses on Christian Grey, who despite his 27 years is accomplished in a staggering number of fields.
He is a billionaire tycoon at the head of a sprawling empire that boasts his name, an athletic kickboxer, a deft helicopter pilot, and a virtuoso pianist. And of course, he is extraordinarily handsome. The dark secret he carries is a penchant for sadistic-style sex.
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Fifty Shades of Grey, is showing in Cape Town at The Labia and Ster Kinekor.
