Ever wondered what a 21st
century British sex film would look like…well wonder no more and meet Darker
Shades of Elise, a film that clearly owes its existence to a certain Hollywood
blockbuster with the word ‘Shades’ in its title. The Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon from a
few years ago resulting in a short lived revival of sexploitation filmmaking in
Britain, that includes this film and ‘Dirty Work’ made by the same bunch of
people. As much as Darker Shades of
Elise and Dirty Work are examples of plucky, low budget British filmmakers grabbing
onto the designer coattails of 50 Shades of Grey, they are also in the
tradition of the middle class sex dramas that the British film industry used to
make in the late 60s and early 70s…think, “Loving Feeling”, “Love is a Splendid
Illusion”, the swinging suburban dramas of Derek Ford, and in particular 1971’s
Not Tonight Darling. Darker Shades of
Elise is essentially Not Tonight Darling updated to a world of mobile phones,
hard drives and revenge porn. This film
did go through a number of titles on its way to the DVD shelves of
supermarkets…it was filmed as The Domino Effect…appears to have been briefly
mooted as 50 Shades of Elise, before finally settling on Darker Shades of
Elise.
For some reason, I keep wanting to
call this film Darker Shades of Elsie, which makes it sound like a Coronation
Street origins story. This isn’t
however, a film documenting Elsie Tanner’s descent into BDSM, this is the story
of Elise Styles (Becky Fletcher), a young, well off yet bored and unfulfilled
newlywed whose love life is on a downward spiral. Her decent, but dull hubby, is a high flying businessman
who would rather focus on his job in the city than his wife, and may also be
playing away from home. All of which
leaves Elise more than a little envious of her best friend, a sex crazy minx
called Bianca (Charlene Cooper) who can barely wait till she has hustled Elise
out of the door before she is riding on top of a muscular hunk. Catching the sight of those two engaging in
carnal pleasure, causes the desperate Elise to resort to a spot of public
masturbation outside of Bianca’s house.
Elise’s fortunes appear to be on the up when she meets Felix (Arron
Blake) a handsome fashion photographer, who initially appears to be Elise’s
passport to a more exciting existence…enough to blind her to the slightly ‘off’
vibe that Felix projects to others. An
early scene in the film where Felix barges into an office, demanding work, only
to be shooed away by a female boss he then loses his composure with, tips off
the audience that Felix has ‘issues’ with women, and has a history of making an
incessant pest of himself around them. Despite
this, Elise is soon throwing caution to the wind, and embarks on a dangerous,
high risk affair with Felix. One that is
daringly played out right under her husband’s nose. While her husband is taking a shower, Felix
lets himself into Elsie and hubby’s apartment and insists on having rough, rear
entry sex with her. Ironically her oblivious
husband then emerges from the shower feeling horny, and also insists on having
rough, rear entry sex with Elise…proving that a woman’s work is never done.
Soon the thrill seeking Felix begins
pushing things even further by demanding that Elise have anonymous, impromptu
sex with any man that Felix chooses. A
situation that results in a succession of near naked, young bucks appearing at
Elise’s apartment all ready for carnal pleasure, including a homosexual couple
who feel like playing the field, and show up looking for an Elise sandwich. Not every character who exists within this
kinky world is cold hearted and unfeeling though. When Felix hires a dominatrix, played by
Claire Maria-Fox, to do her thing, the dominatrix gets an instant bad vibe
about Felix, prevents him from raping Elise, and shoos him away by threatening
to call the police. Thus becoming the
first character in the film to show any kind of compassion or concern for
Elise’s wellbeing.
It should be mentioned that Claire
Maria-Fox has subsequently graduated to leading lady status in a string of British
horror films like Bride of Scarecrow, Mother Krampus and The Tooth Fairy…and is
an absolute scream in all of them. I’ve
no idea if Claire Maria-Fox is actually from Essex, but with her fur coat, Afghan
hound hair, and mouth that rarely closes, she does play the most excessively
Essex girl type characters imaginable in those movies. Knowing just how grating and irritating her
performances must be to so many, just makes me adore Claire Maria-Fox all the
more. She is definitely the standout,
quirky star of those horror films, but I’m not sure you could make the same
case for Darker Shades of Elise- after all she only has about two scenes in the
whole movie. So, it remains rather
puzzlingly that it is Claire Maria-Fox who is plastered all over the DVD cover
of Darker Shades of Elise, while the actual star of the film Becky Fletcher, is
relegated to background imagery. A
decision that also seems slightly suspect in this day and age, if you consider
that Claire Maria-Fox is white, and Becky Fletcher is…I believe…mixed
race. Who knows though…there could be
some innocent explanation for this…such as Becky Fletcher not wanting that
level of exposure…so let’s not set off those woke alarms too prematurely.
Whereas this film’s Hollywood
counterpart posited its male character as a romantic and redeemable figure,
Darker Shades of Elise is under no illusions that Felix is anything more than a
disturbed, stone cold deviant. A side to
him that becomes more apparent as the film progresses. A more accurate movie character comparison
would be with Hellraiser’s Frank Cotton.
Felix’s rugged looks and bad boy appeal belies a jaded, seen and done it
all extremist interior. Like Hellraiser Frank
he is destined to change the life of a bored, sexually repressed woman…but
certainly not for the better. As Elise
seeks to distance herself from a debasing and destructive lifestyle, Felix
resorts to strong-arm tactics to lure her back in. Pasting illicit photos of her at the office
of the company she is seeking employment with, and blackmailing her with a sex
tape before turning her over to a trio of his creepy, swing buddies who take
turns in raping her from behind, with one of them hissing “go harder on her”
and “I’ll fucking break you”. For a film
born out of ‘sensitive’ times, Darker Shades of Elise isn’t afraid to go to
some uncomfortable and disturbing places when it comes to depicting Elise’
degradation. There is also frequent
nudity from its female stars and -befitting an era of equal opportunity- plenty
of bared abs and thrusting buns from its male actors…so something for the
ladies and the gay blades here as well. Couple
that with a multi-racial cast, and Darker Shades of Elise does represent an
attempt to drag the British sex film into the 21st century.
While the landscape of Britain has
dramatically changed since the 1970s, the ghost of British sex films past still
haunts this movie. Darker Shades of
Elise is practically Fordian –Derek not John- in the manner in which it is torn
between being a celebratory portrayal of sexual excess and a paranoid
frightmare about what can happen when people step outside of the sexual
norm. Darker Shades of Elise even resurrects
one of Ford’s frequent stock characters, the obnoxious male photographer. A type Derek Ford always seemed to have it in
for in his writing and direction…think Tony Booth in Corruption, Kevin Lloyd in
Don’t Open Till Christmas, and the shutterbugs of Suburban Wives and Scream and
Die…Felix would have been right at home amongst that sick bunch. The same team’s other sex film ‘Dirty Work’ is
likely to have also met with the Derek Ford seal of approval, the tale of a
shy, wallflower whose fumbling attempts at voyeurism and BDSM lead to her being
framed for a murder. While I seriously
doubt anyone connected to these films has ever heard of Derek Ford, they
nevertheless adhere to the same Fordian belief that a high price must always be
paid for sexual misadventures.
As well as the aforementioned Claire
Maria-Fox, it is notable how practically everyone involved with this film has
subsequently gone on to have careers in British horror films. The director Jamie Weston, preceded this with
a horror film (2016’s Fox Trap), and followed it with another (2018’s Mandy-
The Haunted Doll). Co-producer Scott
Jeffrey has continued with a run of constantly interesting horror films…Suicide
Club, Cupid, The Final Scream, Clowndoll and Don’t Speak. Another producer on this film, Louisa Warren
has gone on to become one of Britain’s most prolific female director of horror
films. Warren also takes a supporting
role in Darker Shades of Elise. So, if
you’ve ever wanted to put a face to the person who makes all those horror films
about scarecrows that you see in supermarkets, Warren shows up here as Janet. A friend of Elise’s husband, who is
consistently mean and nasty towards Elise and eventually receives her
comeuppance in the form of an almightily slap around the face from Elise. Actress Becky Fletcher aka Becca Hirani, has
also been no slouch when it comes to British horror films either, starring in
2017’s House on Elm Lake and –as Rebecca J Matthews- directing Pet Graveyard
and The Candy Witch.
Given how these careers have panned
out, it is tempting to wonder if these people weren’t already foreseeing such a
future for themselves when they made Darker Shades of Elise. A film that teeters towards being a horror
film throughout, and arguably, mounts a full scale assault on the genre with a
wildly violent last act that sees characters tied to chairs, caked in blood,
being repeatedly stabbed, and Felix going full tilt psycho by caving in heads
with a hammer. At which point you do a
double take, step back and ask yourself “ermm…at which point did this become a
Pete Walker film?” Unused scenes,
included as an extra on the DVD release, further push Darker Shades of Elise in
a horror film direction, revealing a sub-plot in which Felix follows one of
Elise’s confidants back to her house, stalks her while she is in the shower
then suffocates her. The deleted scenes
also afford Felix a back-story…his momma was a whore, and youngman Felix was
exposed to some inappropriate stuff, including mum eventually slashing her
wrists in the bathroom…the typical horror movie way of explaining why
characters grow up to be arseholes.
As tends to be the case with Louisa
Warren’s subsequent horror films, Darker Shades of Elise is a bit of a rough
diamond. The film emulates the look of a
glossy Hollywood production, taking in lots of aerial views of London’s
corporate landscape, imagery that has become the norm when it comes to big
budget Hollywood’s way of depicting a London location. At the same time, cracks, revealing a low
budget and against the clock shooting, gradually appear. Some of the supporting actors aren’t quite up
to the standards of the leads –both of whom are very good- and there are sound
recording issues. The impression you get
is that time and money, or the lack thereof, are constant enemies of Warren,
and that the films emerge as unpolished and a little rough around the edges as
a result. Still considering that the
film was (according to the director’s audio commentary) only shot in 12 days,
runs around 100 minutes with around 10 minutes of leftover footage, that is
nearly two hours of usable material from a 12 day shoot. A considerable, low budget achievement that demonstrates
just how fast and efficiently Warren and Co are able to crank this stuff out.
Darker Shades of Elise does come
across as someone striking while the iron was still hot, and when 50 Shades of
Grey was still a fashionable ‘thing’. I
can’t help thinking, with regards to this film’s relationship to 50 Shades of
Grey, that mainstream films dealing with sexuality and eroticism tend to be
massive in their day, but largely forgotten as time has gone on. Films like Carnal Knowledge and Last Tango in
Paris were the source of controversy and after dinner conversations at the
time, but these days tend to be remembered more by film historians rather than
the average joe. Whenever 1980s cinema comes
under the nostalgic spotlight, you don’t tend to hear films like The Postman
Always Rings Twice, The Blue Lagoon and Nine and a Half Weeks brought up in the
same revered company as Back to the Future, The Goonies or Robocop. The only exception to the rule would have to
be Showgirls, a derided laughing stock in its day, which managed to have the
last laugh by rising from the ashes to enjoy a camp afterlife. The verdict is still out on 50 Shades of
Grey, but even now, only a few years on, it does feel as if those films were
just a flash in the pan, that are quickly disappearing from the pop culture radar. Seemingly validating the decision of so many
connected to Darker Shades of Elise to jump ship and start making horror films
instead, a genre that generally tends to date better than erotic cinema.
I suppose in writing this, I should
have made the ultimate sacrifice, broke down and watched one of the 50 Shades
of Grey movies, in order to compare them to this British answer to the
series…but, alas dear reader, even I have my limits when it comes to doing
research. I did watch part of the first
50 Shades of Grey film while staying at Suzy Mandel’s place… it was playing on
the cable service that S’Mandel has… but I have to confess to dozing off
through it. More recently a penny
pitching friend was ecstatic to pick up the third film for 50p at a charity
shop…not because he wanted to see the film, but because he thought it might be
worth more to take back to CEX…which in fairness it was…it was worth £1. So I did see part of ‘50 Shades Freed’ before
its date with CEX. Not that I can look
down on people for buying and selling at CEX…having picked up Darker Shades of
Elise there for £1.50…my small contribution to the British film industry. It should be mentioned that the first 50
Shades of Grey film is also currently £1.50 in CEX, so in CEX terms at least 50
Shades of Grey and Darker Shades of Elise are currently on equal footing, and
in my book, Elise spanks 50 Shades bare buttocks…on account of that fact that I
didn’t fall asleep during this one. As
much as I’ve enjoyed many of the horror films that have since emerged from this
‘collective’, both Darker Shades of Elise and Dirty Work rank among their best
work, and make you regret that the window of opportunity for a British sex film
revival, inadvertently opened by 50 Shades of Grey, proved to be a very brief
one.
