Unexpected erotic success walks 'between Beauty' and the Beast and Fifty 'Shades of Grey'

 Unexpected erotic success walks 'between Beauty' and the Beast and Fifty 'Shades of Grey'

The release of 'Fifty Shades of Grey' was a milestone in commercial literature. Waves of ladies eager for racy little adventures first rushed to the pages of the E.L. James and then to movies starring Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan. Immediately afterwards, a good handful of publishers began to launch similar novels, riding a wave of soft-porn that at that time (nine years ago!) no one wanted to miss.

One of them was the Polish author Blanka Lipińska who, in 2018, tried to repeat the success of her predecessor by launching the '365 Dni' trilogy, here in Spain translated as '365 days'. Did you know her? Actually, neither do I.

But now it has become a movie and, since its premiere on Netflix a few weeks ago, it has been in the top positions of viewings despite its lapidary criticism: on IMDb it barely has a 3.5/10. But sometimes you have free time, and hey, it's never bad to watch something with zero expectations to have a laugh.

'365 days' tells the story of Massimo (Michelle Morrone), a businessman (ahem, ahem, mobster) obsessed with a woman, Laura (Anna-Maria Sieklucka), whom he kidnaps and "gives" her a year to fall in love with the. A kind of story similar to 'Beauty and the Beast' but, instead of a talking chandelier and clock, it has private jets, impressive yachts and attempts at steamy scenes that don't quite work.

The presentation of the characters could not be more exaggerated: we meet him holding his dying father in his arms after a "one day all this will be yours", and her closing an important work agreement and returning home, where a unhappy and monotonous relationship with your partner. But of course, everything gets complicated.

After an argument with her boyfriend in a hotel where they were spending a vacation with friends, Laura appears in a luxurious room and Massimo tells her about her Machiavellian plan. The rest? Quite a tug of war on the part of both. He, very macho, using expressions like "doll". She, very 'femme fatale'. And the Stockholm Syndrome that seems to be beginning to emerge little by little.

The good thing about '365 days' is that it is one of the few fiction projects that has not tried to stretch the gum: the complete trilogy of books is condensed into 154 minutes of footage, so the story moves forward quickly. Well, except in the sex scenes. There time stops and the director, Barbara Bialowas, expands with them from various points of view. Because some claim has to have, of course.

Of the many commercial products "with high doses of eroticism" that have been produced in recent years, '365 days' is one of the most explicit when it comes to steamy scenes. It is already known that both '50 shades' and 'Instinct' or 'Toy Boy', in that sense, quickly deflated and, although here too everything is taken care of in detail (if someone expects frontal nudity, look for something else), yes it is true that it shows "more carnaza" other fictions of the style.

There are two ways to watch this movie: knowing what you're exposing yourself to, just for fun and without giving it much importance because it's all fiction... or emphasizing the morally reprehensible part of the story (which are not a few things). That the story exposes a man's control over a woman's will just on a whim? Yes. What fosters the more toxic side of romantic relationships? Also. But... what is so outrageous that you can't take it seriously.