I recently watched a movie on a free streaming service (Peacock) called
Bound. How can one go wrong with a title like that, right?--especially knowing, going in, that it's about a woman discovering an erotic attraction to BDSM.
Charisma Carpenter plays Michelle Mulan, an ambitious real estate agent working in her father's firm. She finds herself attracted to a younger man, Ryan Black (Bryce Draper) who turns her on to BDSM. Michelle becomes submissive to Ryan, and has intense sexual experiences with him (you know they're intense because they're filmed in the close up, slow motion, constant camera panning style typical of such scenes.) Turns out to no one's surprise except Michelle's that Ryan is a sexual predator, who is grooming Michelle's teenage daughter to be his submissive.
Now Ryan may be an arrogant predator, but he's about to learn that you don't get between Mama Bear and her cub. After discovering Ryan's duplicity, Michelle kicks him out of her house. Michelle later confronts Ryan at his apartment, knocks him out and tortures him in his own playroom, then leaves him for the cops.
It's all part of the learning process. Michelle's confidence is now in overdrive, and she proceeds to close a deal with a high powered real estate developer that cements the future of her father's firm. She is made partner as a result, and in the final scene is well on her way to making the big shot developer her submissive.
But I've wasted more than enough pixels on the plot summary. The movie got 14 percentage points from Rotten Tomatoes, and IMO, deserved every one of them. The acting is wooden and utterly unconvincing. Charisma Carpenter made her bones on
Buffy The Vampire Slayer, in which she played Cordelia, a sidekick of Buffy's who is an entitled, snobbish, and superficial bit of eye candy. She was perfectly convincing in that part. But in a part that requires some nuance or some acting chops, she falls short. The supporting actors are no better.
The BDSM scenes are are very mild, to the point of being innocuous, especially given the fact that Ryan is actually a sadistic sexual predator. It seems to me that there should be a sense of danger, or of threat in their play. Isn't that in part what would appeal to both participants?
The dialogue is not convincing or well thought out, or delivered with any conviction. For instance, After Ryan secures Michelle to the chair and blindfolds her, he whispers, "When I am finished with you I will fuck you." And then precedes immediately to sit behind her and fuck her. So I guess he finished with her early?
I wasn't entirely clear about the mechanics of the sexual act either. It looks like she's sitting flat on the chair, and he's sitting directly behind her, so how exactly did he penetrate her? I'd really like to know. I have noticed that from time to time women do sit in chairs, and I think being able to fuck them while they do that would be a useful skill.
But enough about me. On to the pictures:
Michelle visits Ryan's playroom. Ryan commands her to strip! Hesitantly, she does so. Poor thing, she's got those first date jitters.
Ryan observes his new submissive. Note the shop rags hanging from the toy rack. Important but often overlooked accessories in any BDSM playroom. Handy for wiping up unsightly and slippery oil leaks!
Ryan secures Michelle to the Chair of Ultimate Delight and properly introduces himself.
Michelle is nothing if not ambitious. She's upping her game, training for a promotion to Dominant!
Michelle walks in on Ryan and her daughter. She and Ryan are about to have some Mama Bear time.
So yeah, I wouldn't put this up there with a truly intense BDSM experience like
Fifty Shades Of Grey (lol
), but it did let me get a look at Cordelia's tits, which I'd always wondered about, second only to Buffy's, Willow's, Faith's, Harmony's, and, of course, Buffy's mother, Joyce's.
