The Real 50 Shades

Though not one of filmmaker Liselle Bailey's major projects, this porn-parody made for satellite TV gets a serious approach from her and is quite well-made for a low-budgeter.

It has no comedy, not even comedy relief, as it takes the skeletal subject matter of the hit books and not-so-hot film adaptations and creates a realistic, believable drama. And the acting by famous British porn talent is very good -quite naturalistic, at the level of mainstream British tv dramas.

Sienna Day stars as a college student working at a menial job whose life is changed when she exchanges glances with well-dressed Ryan Ryder at a pub. Bailey's script departs from the targeted source material in that Ryan is not a wealthy big shot, just the owner of the pub.

He does have a dominating personality, from which the storiy's twists and turns emanate. Sienna is sexy (of course, this being a porn feature) but is relatiely plain compared to leading porn talent. To use a British mainstream '60s standard, she more closely resembles the Carol White (of "Poor Cow" and "Cathy Comes Home") rather than the glamorous star of that era, Julie Christie.

Ryder's behavior is somewhat baffling to her, hampering their path to romance. He likes to boss people around, including her even though they've just met, and despite ample opportunity he does not rush to have sex with her, but does have casual sex with other girls.

Eventually he expresses his philosophy on Control. And keeps unsubtly daring Sienna to relinquish control (and submit to his wishes). I was pleasantly surprised to discover that director Bailey's script does not merely parrot porn's party line regarding the joys of female submission, making for an excellent ending to the story.

Ryder does a good job in his role as a cad, and the supporting cast is fine, led by Emma Leigh as Sienna's best friend; Ryder's real-life wife Jasmine Jae as a dominatrix and Euro star Tina Kay as a submissive "plaything" for Ryder.