So, I must admit that I was super duper nervous that the concept of consent would be glossed over or simply ignored in this movie. BUT! My! What a pleasant surprise it was to see a movie where they actually followed healthy BDSM etiquettes (safe, sane and consensual).

It was a ride to watch this movie and every time a new play scene would be shown, I could hear all those conservative walls shattering over the world. Love and Leashes will hopefully open doors for more movies that explore BDSM. Unfortunately people are familiar only with 50 shades and that is just a red flag and a map on what NOT to do in bdsm. But in this movie we get a new perspective and I was so surprised to see some topics touched upon that made me think deeply like how people of the BDSM community react when their partners reject who they are. How their mental health is impacted and how they become vary of future relationships.

It was also scary to see how 'fakes' tried to use the safe environment of BDSM to rape women and was another insight to what the play is absolutely NOT about. Too many people consider BDSM to be something perverted, but it's just adult play. In fact it has more consent involved than your average tv shows where we see sexual violence normalized and romantisised.

In love and leashes, instead we see two grown adult, financially independent and emotionally stable, engage in activities that make them both happy. The submissive male maintains his consent and says no clearly when he doesn't want to date. The dom.... aahhh watching the female lead was an experience that made me ecstatic! What acting! Her steady gaze made me shiver! We see her do her research and acts as a very responsible dom. In the last play before their contract expires, she stops the play when she realises that it's not something she's able to carry out and that was such a beautiful moment of vulnerability to be shown from a dominant. Because at the end of the day, aren't they also humans? Behind the control, behind the steady gaze, there is a person who is also effected by emotions.

At the end, all I can say is that this movie was sweet, sensual, funny, crazy and overall a great watch! Watching the female lead find her inner dom (who was just lingering behind that steady gaze, waiting to pounce out) and watching the male lead heal from his past and learning so much about BDSM in general.. well now you know which movie to recommend to people if they are curious or want to watch something different and yet romantic at the same time.

PS The only thing I didn't like about the movie was the dog cafe since these places use breed dogs who come from breeders. And the very act of breeding any animal is r*pe since an animal isn't capable of consenting to humans. I know it looks very beautiful on the outside, but for every pup we see, a mother is locked inside a breeding facility where she is just used as a baby machine. Consent after all is not just for humans and while rape happens in the wild, humans know it's wrong, so we must not do it to anyone else.