A Story That Began With Desire and Secrets
2017 was the year that Darker Shades of Elise was released into the ingrained adult thriller genre of the industry. Promising something deeper than simple seduction, it tells the story of Elise, a woman who appears to have everything. A comfortable marriage, and a safe life. But is profoundly restless and caught in the tension of loyalty and temptation. The film explores the themes of unchained betrayal and the morally hazy turmoil of passion and responsibility.
It wasn’t a blockbuster, but it certainly wasn’t devoid of curiosity. It felt raw, small in scope, and grounded in character and story. Spectacle was not the reason audiences came, rather the emotional chaos present in the performances, especially Elise’s.
Elise: The Heart of Restless Longing
Elise is the soul of the film, played by Becky Fletcher. It is not simply that of a woman having an affair, but rather, an individual who is trying to piece herself back together amid an unfulfilling life. Iconic to fans of the film, this character’s duality is what makes her compelling; in one sense, she is a devoted wife, but in another, she is a woman of profound, unarticulated longings and fantasies.
For Becky Fletcher, it was not easy stepping into the character’s shoes. At the time, she was a relatively new actress and later admitted she prepared for the role by reading about women who felt, as she described it, ‘trapped in perfect marriages.’ She characterizes Elise not as an unrelatable villainess but as a sympathetic tone for women who are living with unarticulated, unspoken anguish.
So, in that sense, Elise is not simply a fictional character. She represents women in real life, housewives in suburban England, working women in urban India, and historical figures, like Anna Karenina, who have all been discussed for having the audacity to break convention and step outside the boundaries that were prescribed for them.
The Cultural Mirrors Hidden in the Film
The Lacuna of Cultural Discourse During Unfolding Elise’s Journey
What made Elise’s journey more complex is the specific cultural conversation around it. In Britain — the country of the film’s production — conversations around women’s control, sexuality, and expectations of married life were becoming prominent. The reflection of these discussions were around Elise’s choices.
When encountering the film, Indian audiences made relevant associations as well. For many, the parallels to the character in Indian cinema were around women stubbornly resisting modernity or self-assertion, and heavy traditions. In older films, such as Arth (1982), where Shabana Azmi’s character redefined love divorced from betrayal, Elise’s narrative began to probe, somewhat more boldly, devoted love, intimacy, betrayal, and personal liberation.
More than a Performance: Becky Fletcher’s Own Battles
Becky Fletcher was a newcomer in a challenging role, facing the self-doubt of performing. Many questioned whether she could portray the character’s emotional breadth in equal measure to the role’s sensuality. She prepared by more than line rehearsals. Each night she went to bed journaling as Elise — and in a character’s imagined unspoken monologue confront her own bureaucratic system. This abstraction propelled her focus from the scripted desire to a more organic approach.
Later on, Friends of Fletcher highlighted her anxiety pertaining to being typecast after doing such an explicit role. Rather than cowering, she took on the challenge, figuring that if Elise was to be remembered as a complex flawed woman, rather than just a seductress, then her work would be meaningful.
The Men in Elise’s World
Elise’s story would not be complete without her husband and her lover’s presence. Each of these characters represented more than just a relationship, or a love quadrangle, they symbolized choices. Stability and societal approval, represented by the husband. The lover, on the other hand, represented temptation and the promise of a carefree life.
The actors who played these roles leaned in to their archetypes but also tried to humanize them. They spoke in interviews about how hard it was not to succumb to the easy play of “villain” or “hero” but rather representing men that were just as flawed and just as lost. The emotionally charged dynamic on the set was so intense that it would at times, take several attempts to get the emotional contradictions in seemingly simple interactions.
Hype, Curiosity, and Audience Reactions
Prior to its release, Darker Shades of Elise was marketed as an erotic thriller, most critics comparing it to Fifty Shades of Grey. The fans were expecting it to be a glossy, escapist tale filled with stylish erotic scenes. What they got was something much grittier, rawer, and more uncomfortable in reality than they had anticipated.
Although some members of the audience expressed disappointment regarding the film’s limited scope, others appreciated its attempt to anchor eroticism to the psychology of the characters. This sparked online discussions about whether Elise was a figure of pity, admiration, or condemnation. One fan theory that gained traction proposed that Elise’s decisions were, instead, about the reclamation of agency in a life where she felt she was visible. This, of course, was instrumental to the film, Darker Shades of Elise.
Addressing the Life Behind The Camera, it was clear too that the Lower budget caused Strain and Desperation Understaffed the crew had to be innovative, whether that meant borrowing sabotage, maintaining a ‘borrowed’ lighting scheme, or juggling resources to make reuse props.
With regard to the breakdown of a ‘behind the scenes’ account, the most striking account to emerge concerning emotional exhaustion centered on a crucial confrontation sequence betweem Elise and her husband. The actors were psychologically depleted after countless rehearsals, and Becky Fletcher requested ten minutes to herself to gather. When she emerged, she performed with such emotional intensity and rawness that the Director of that sequence marked it ’the most realistic moment in the film’.
Gradients of emotional ‘lightness’ were resticted on the film. The crew members were remembering the emotional ‘overload’ and framed their accounts. It was clear that the atmosphere on those sets, and the emotional workings involved, were a ‘hidden’ layer.
The Shadow and the Echo
Even years after it was released, Darker Shades of Elise is still considered a cult find. It’s not mainstream, nor was it ever intended to be, but the character of Elise continues to linger in discussions of women’s representation in erotic thrillers. To some, she is a cautionary tale, while others see her as a mirror to their suppressed realities.
And for Becky Fletcher, the role remains the one that defined her entry into cinema. She may have faced doubts and fears, but similarly to Elise, she pursued her role with determination. The character’s restlessness became her own and, in a way, both actress and character were confronted by the same question: how far can one go to reclaim the feeling of being alive?
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