It’s a chance encounter that leads the beautiful Anastasia ‘Ana’ Steele, a student of literature to meet the charismatic and extremely wealthy entrepreneur, Christian Grey. She goes to interview him, to help out her friend Kate and instead, her life changes forever. Both are drawn irresistibly to each other and thereon begins their dark, brooding, flawed, erotic love story. This is no Mills and Boons, neither is this a Lolita; it’s kind of a mix of both concocted into a marvellous potion that seems just right for the age we live in.
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Fifty Shades is an American film series that consists of three erotic romance films, based on the trilogy by English author E. L. James.
Fifty Shades Darker is the second in the series where Ana and Christian are back together, after some previous misunderstandings. And though it can help to have read all the three books before, it is not absolutely necessary. It is a simple enough love story with a lot of no-holds barred sex scenes, though that doesn’t metamorphose it into a po** flick.
And that really brings us to why this story of a billionaire with a fetish for kinky sex, falling in love with your average girl next door, has been such a crowd puller, ever since it released. Not to mention that sales of the book series have been astounding as well, despite prudists and critics trashing it.
Mass appeal wins, I would say.
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Three reasons: one, its got romance; two, its got an absolutely stunning lead pair of Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan and between the two of them and their crackling chemistry, both in and out of the sheets, it created hysteria. Three, it’s a fairytale romance between rich handsome guy with a tormented past and poor little girl who wants to save him. Who doesn’t love such a story? Give me a dark horse anyday over Mister Perfect.
Jamie Dornan is a perfect 10, as the brooding tycoon who moves the earth to be with his Ana and tries to change himself for her love. But it’s also realistic in the sense that he tries and he fails and he tries again. Not so much Dakota Johnson, who would score a five on ten for her acting skills.
But the story wins; the chemistry wins. The happily ever after formula is discarded and instead they are given more challenges in their lives, as the scenes flash across. Ana is so much in love with him that she becomes a willing participant in his erotic fantasies too. And yet, she holds her own when she needs to. She’s no pushover and Christian loves her all the more for it.
The treatment of the film is tender, interspersed with a whole lot of beautiful sound tracks like I Don’t Wanna Live Forever by Taylor Swift, Zayn Mlik, Not Afraid Anymore by Halsey, Pray by JRY, Lies in the Dark by Tove Lo, No Running From Me by Toulouse.
And be warned, this is no soppy love story; I think I grew out of them when I was still in my teens; the reason why I enjoyed watching this one. Dark, brooding, happy, romantic, sexy is what we need now.
Fifty Shades Darker is just that.
Where to watch: Netflix
By Tashneem Ali Chaudhury
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