‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ classified R-18

MANILA, Philippines- The movie adaptation of the popular novel “Fifty Shades of Grey” by E.L. James has been given an R-18 (strictly for adults) classification by the Movies and Television Review and Classification Board.

Columbia Pictures, the distributor of the film, has notified the public as well that the film contains scenes that has “nudity, strong and/or sexual language, and sexual aberrational behavior with elements of bondage, dominance, sadism, and masochism.”

It, meanwhile, clarified that the sensitive scenes were in “blurs and screen blocks” which they have applied prior to the submission of the film for review.

The stars who will portray the iconic roles of billionaire entrepreneur Christian Grey and curious college student Anastasia Steele are Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson.

The film is about the redemption of the unattainable Christian as it is the liberation of the inexperienced Ana, the protagonists have taken on lives of their own for readers who’ve pored over the vulnerabilities of the characters and intricacies of the novels.

Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, this erotic and authentic love story from series creator E L James takes us deep inside a rich and mysterious world that explores frankly the complexities of male-female dynamics, and the limits to which we will allow ourselves to go—and to be taken.

Taylor-Johnson said the film “feels like a fairy tale with similar plotlines to things that we grew up with, although in a very adult version: A young girl meets her prince. He’s unavailable. He’s successful, fabulous, rich, but it twists and unfolds and becomes something very different. It’s also the story of this girl on a sexual exploration, a coming-of-age journey.”

Taylor-Johnson acknowledges that her approach to the material was “to treat this as an extraordinary love story and an extremely unusual and unique one. Going into it, you’re trying to finesse and find delicate, subtle moments where the two of them are starting to shift and change. That is something that has to be so finely tuned throughout the movie to keep everything in line with the journey they go on.”

Opening across the Philippines on Feb. 11, “Fifty Shades of Grey” is distributed by United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures.