Review: 50 Shades Of Grey – Real Women Confess

9th January 2015

David Kane Garcia hour long documentary takes us into a very real world of S&M. A world made popular by the sensation that is E.L. James’s novel 50 Shades of Grey.

Through a sequence of interviews with a select group of participants we’re taken through the very real experiences, the practices and the fetishes that make up their unique world and a life lived through S&M.

Whilst the title is somewhat misleading, with many of the interviews involving men; what is clear is that at its heart this is a more personal than factual documentary with a range of individual experiences. Each participant has a unique perspective on S&M and Real Women Confess intends to make clear the individual and personal nature of the ‘world’ they describe.

It becomes clear early on that there is no such thing as a shared experience, unless experienced in the same room and whilst it is interesting to go through a series of confessions it actually did more to prevent the film from building any kind of structure or conclusion. I felt no more open to or understanding of their world than I did before; it felt more like a series of sex tales that were interesting, but nothing that impacted on my own life whatsoever.

What could be a really entertaining documentary, with a unique insight into something not often experienced therefore ends up being a rather dim affair. There is little change of pace, scenery or interest and it loses its appeal quickly. Cut scenes of people not having sex in between tiresome interviews neither gives us a view of what’s being discussed, or increases the entertainment value. Their only evident purpose is to make the whole feature feel like a cheesy soft core title of little value or relevance. A documentary into a sordid world of sex and violence should struggle to become dull, but 50 Shades of Grey: Real Women does a spectacular job of achieving it.

I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone unless they had a particular interest in 50 shades or S&M. For the most part it only served to make the world seem more exclusive and hidden, despite its intentions to open it up. It has no real unique value, and only 1 participant really gave enough of an insight into themselves to be of any interest.

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