With the huge success of this book trilogy by British writer EL James there was always going to be a film. This raunchier Mills and Boon for the mommy porn generation definitely generated discussion amongst friends. I like to understand the zeitgeist and what is making people tick, so I did persevere with all three books. Let’s be honest here it was tortuous and by book two there was much skim reading going on. Take away the Red Room of Pain action, this is above all a classic princess / fairy tale fantasy of meeting a rich man and falling in love. You could say it’s an updated Pride of Prejudice for our times, minus the skilful writing. It has that classic theme of misunderstood man, righteous woman and the roundabout of start / pause / stop / go that ensues. However kudos to EL James for being able to create such a huge seller of over 100 million copies and counting.
Now I will confess I’m rather keen to see the movie and if I’m honest, admittedly it’s mostly to see Jamie Dornan as Christian Grey. He was great in The Fall playing a serial killer alongside Scully (sorry but The X-Files is etched in my memory) Gillian Anderson as the detective who is tracking him down. He has also modelled in some well oiled Calvin Klein ads that are rather hot alongside sexy Eva Mendes. Dakota Johnson plays Anastasia, the young woman who will come to embrace the S&M action and she is a relative unknown, although she has certified Hollywood pedigree. Melanie Griffith is her mother, Tippi Hedren her grandmother and Don Johnson (forever known as Sonny Crockett from his Miami Vice days) her father.
I will report back as 50 Nuances de Grey (as it’s called in France) is screening at the local movie theatre, although I’m not sure if they’ll have a Version Originale option. I’m sure the script is not too complicated so I’m hoping if I see the French version it will be AOK for my capabilities.
Are you seeing the movie? What did you think about the books?
Megan In Sainte Maxime 
Wow, you actually read all three? You poor thing. That’s taking one for the team. I did not read them and won’t be seeing the movie. I did hear excerpts from the books on the sports radio station I listen to. They did a game called Fifty Shades of Guay where one of their sports guys named Gary Tanguay read either clips from the book or some nonsense that they wrote themselves. Hard to tell the difference because they were both pretty awful but very funny. They are online now I think.
I know a lot of people who read them and anxiously awaited the next book like it was Harry Potter or something. I’m sure the movie will do okay. OPI has a nail polish collection for the movie. I may buy one of those colors but that’s about as far as my interest goes.
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Hello Poodle, nice to have a perfume person here! I know I was very persistent with the books. They’re not even allowed to be seen on the bookshelf. I’ll have a look at the piss take option, sounds amusing. I’m sure the movie is going to be absolutely HUGE.
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I decided not to read the book (from everything I heard about it, it’s garbage) and I don’t plan to watch the movie – even though I really like The Fall.
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Don’t blame you and you certainly didn’t miss much.
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I see the film with you when on vo ☺
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I looked but no session this week we may need to see it in French – it might be better that way!!
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Think I will make this a thing to watch for when I am in ill on Netflix in 2017. Apparently it’s hard-core corn and is not much more than a two hour long opening sequence.
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I know it will be super cheesy – I think it will better in French. 12 year olds can see it here whereas it’s R18 in NZ and banned in Malaysia LOL. It can’t be worse than that Spice Girls movie we saw.
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In French – c’est bonne idée!
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