Consent is often a complex and misunderstood subject for many young adults. Little is known about it, and many never bother to read about it. Why’s consent so important? At what stage can consent be violated? These questions, and many more, are the central focus of The Grey Night directed and produced by Biodun Stephen.
Consent itself is not just about saying “yes” or “no”; it is about clarity, mutual understanding, and the freedom to choose without pressure, fear, or implied obligation. It is also a continuous process, which means that even if someone initially agrees, they have the right to withdraw their consent at any point if they become uncomfortable. Many people do not know this, and that is why conversations around sexual consent are so important today. However, in treating this key subject, the movie dabbles in unnecessary, repetitive scenes that border on caricature. Even so, the film’s noble intention is overshadowed by the flaws in its delivery.
In The Grey Night, Orezi (Chinenye Nnebe) is presented as a young corps member who finds herself immensely attracted to her supervisor, Nosa (Ray Adeka). When an opportunity presents itself after a party, she indulges him and follows him to his house. One thing leads to the other, and the young man wakes up to a repeated knock from police officers. Upon opening the door, he finds the police officers accusing him of rape, not even alleged rape. The film does not waste time escalating things, and this haste is exactly what I find confusing. It is almost as if the film wants to force us into the tension without allowing the situation to breathe or settle.
What follows is a series of repeated investigations that serve no purpose in building the core message – consent and the grey areas around it – in the film. Instead of deepening the emotional and psychological layers around what happened between Nosa and Orezi, the movie takes us on loops of conversations and interrogations that neither sharpen the narrative nor clarify the ambiguity. This is one of my major criticisms of the movie: that it circles the subject matter instead of digging into it.
The film tries to let us know that rape is a sensitive topic, but in unravelling this truth, the film doesn’t treat it with the urgency it deserves. The story repeatedly misses simple steps that could have strengthened its message. A simple lab test would’ve established whether Orezi was indeed raped by Nosa, without the need to visit Nosa’s workplace to interview his colleagues about his relationship with Orezi to confirm whether he indeed raped her or not. I keep wondering what purpose this investigation serves when what’s needed is a simple lab result to corroborate the accusation.
Another moment the film tries to stretch its psychological depth is when it mentions that Orezi experienced tonic immobility as her response to fear. This is actually a beautiful thing to highlight because tonic immobility is a real trauma response. But the problem is that the movie doesn’t give us enough reason to believe this claim. It doesn’t show us Orezi’s background, nor does it build any emotional or psychological foundation that helps us understand why she would freeze in such a moment. Without this groundwork, the mention of tonic immobility feels like another important idea that appears and disappears without weight.
The beautiful thing about The Grey Night is that it explores the emotional, social, and legal nuances of consent – the very things I expected when I saw the trailer and read the synopsis. Even if it does so in uneven scenes and through a number of needless interrogations. The film broaches an important conversation about miscommunication, power dynamics, the vulnerability of corps members, and the sensitivity surrounding sexual encounters. But in doing so, too, the film rushes to create drama where depth was needed, and introduces sermons where tight scenes should have been the priority.
In the end, The Grey Night stands at a place where its intention is noble, but its execution falters. It touches an important topic, no doubt, but it never stays long enough on the parts that matter.
The Grey Night is streaming on Biodun Stephen’s TV
