Fifty Shades of Grey Ending Explained & Film Analysis

The meaning of the film 50 shades of gray

Whether you like it or not, Fifty Shades of Gray raised 157 million rubles in cinemas in our homeland, and even became the highest-grossing film in the R category in their native States (that is, among films that are prohibited to be watched by persons under the age of 17). The film received rather cool reviews, including among fans of the work of E. L. James – they unanimously insisted that “the book is better.” We will not take part in these wars, but instead we will share our vision of the meaning of the film “Fifty Shades of Grey”, which, we hope, will be of interest both to those who know the book by heart and to those who have not even opened it.

Two Approaches to Relationships in Fifty Shades of Gray

The main plot collision of the film is a clash of two approaches to relationships, two worlds – the world of Anastacia Steele and the world of Christian Gray. Anastacia calls herself a romantic, but in fact her expectations from the relationship are quite simple – she wants to be “like normal people”, go to the cinema and restaurants together, talk heart to heart. Her reference points are the relationships of others: watching the flirting of Kate and Elliot, the cheerful chatter of her mother and her new husband Bob, Ana worries that she will never be able to experience such simple, understandable feelings with Christian.

The meaning of the film 50 shades of gray

Anya would like Christian to behave “like a normal person”

The second type of relationship is what Christian Gray is used to. “I’m not making love – I’m fucking. Tough, ”the millionaire cuts off in a conversation with Ana. Romantic relationships are unacceptable for him, he avoids appearing in the company of girls, which leads ordinary people to think that Christian is gay. In communicating with Ana, even despite the fact that Christian is obviously in love, he tries to record as much as possible all stages of the development of their relationship, bring everything in line with the document, even forces the girl to sign a non-disclosure agreement of what is happening between them.

Interaction of the main characters

In the process of acquaintance and interaction of the main characters, their worlds begin to penetrate into each other. This does not happen without excesses (the underlying causes of which we will discuss below). While it is clear that the characters and their perspectives on relationships are incompatible, there is still something that draws them to each other. For Ana, this is a passion. At the beginning of the film, we see her clumsy, constrained, not reacting in any way to signs of attention from her friend Jose. Christian unleashes Ana’s sexual potential, one of the telling details here is the nervous biting of a pencil. Ana chews on a pencil like a schoolgirl when she is confused, but Christiane turns on the gesture. Thanks to Christian, Ana changes her wardrobe, begins to look more mature, behaves more relaxed.

“I want you not to be ashamed of your nakedness,” Christian demands

Finally, Christian deprives Anastacia of her virginity, and in the future the girl herself is already looking for sexual intimacy with him, although she is frightened by the inclinations of the chosen one. Anastacia definitely likes that “easy” BDSM introduction that Christian shows her. Thus, for the first time in her life, having experienced real passion, the girl allows Christian to pull her into her world a little – but only until she stumbles upon the limits of what is permissible for her.

The meaning of the film 50 shades of gray

“50 Shades” accompany Christian everywhere – shirts, ties, pencils, cars

As for Christian, then with him everything is exactly the opposite. Having seen the darkest sides of life since childhood, he cannot classify himself as a romantic, and his relationship with women, whom, according to him, there were exactly 15 before Ana, were strictly regulated by the Agreement and its implacable nature. However, he apparently fell in love with Anu. “What are you doing with me?” himself – once a week to arrange dates, “like normal people.” But it is precisely this softened state that the girl takes for the true nature of Christian, whereas usually he is much more cruel. Moreover,

The meaning of the ending of the film “Fifty Shades of Grey”

In the finale, two approaches to the relationship – let’s call them “romantic” and “cruel” – collide again, since Ana’s behavior (her desire to take possession of Christian, to subjugate his will to herself, an unexpected departure to Georgia) causes Christian anger, and he shows his real character. Seeing Christian in the role of a ruthless executioner, Ana experiences not so much physical pain as mental pain, which completely destroys all hopes for a happy life together. The lovers did not manage to remake each other: the modest, shy Ana became uninhibited under the influence of Christian, but she could not accept his cruel games. Christian’s rude nature trembled from tender feelings for Anastacia, but he also failed to break himself. Everyone returned to their own world again, where Ana’s ideal is the simple and calm relationship between her mother and Bob,

What’s left behind the scenes: the meaning of the book Fifty Shades of Grey

In the film, Christian very superficially tells Anastacia his story, and the girl does not find an answer to the questions that she constantly asks the hero: why does he like to hurt, what made him so? However, we find comprehensive information about this in the book. Here is a brief history of the life of Christian Gray. His biological mother was a prostitute, she did not care for little Christian too much, and her pimp, in addition, beat her and the child. When the boy was 4 years old, his mother committed suicide and was adopted by the Gray family. From time to time, the boy experienced outbursts of rage caused by memories of his unhappy childhood. When he was 15, a grown woman seduced him and showed him the world of BDSM – so his aggression found a way out in sex games.

Christian’s relationship with an adult woman lasted 6 years – until the dominant’s husband found out that his wife was dating a minor. Since then, Christian has learned to take pleasure in hurting women, especially dark-haired women – they reminded him of his mother. This fully explains his deep but unhealthy passion for Anastacia. Although in the film their relationship is somewhat embellished, it can be understood from many scenes that Christian uses BDSM as a cover for his sick psyche, traumatized in deep childhood. The wide gestures of a fabulously wealthy businessman may seem like manifestations of great love, but in reality they betray a desire to completely suppress Anastacia’s will. Christian sells her car without asking the girl’s consent. He loses his temper upon learning that Ana did not warn him about leaving for Georgia, and does not allow the girl to be alone with her thoughts, having appeared there after her. Throughout the film, Christian considers himself entitled to rush into where Ana is, without any warning. He chooses what to wear, where to live, how to sleep. In words, he constantly convinces the girl that he cares about her; in fact, he instills fear in her.

Ana, diligently ignoring all the alarms, convinced herself that Christian is the same person as everyone else – Ana can no longer hide the truth from herself after Christian breaks down and stabs her six times with the belt. Although Christian constantly focused on the fact that Ana can leave at any time, that their relationship is governed by the Agreement, he ignores the fact that Ana does not yet belong to him documented and treats her as his property. This finally opens the eyes of a naive girl and she makes the only correct decision – she leaves the person, a relationship with whom will never bring her joy.

The meaning of the film 50 shades of gray

In the final, Anastacia makes the only correct decision – to leave the mentally unbalanced millionaire

Final of the film Fifty Shades of Grey

It is significant that in the final scene, Anastacia uses the stop word “red”, which she never found useful before. The stop word is not spoken during sex or BDSM games, because that is not what actually hurts Ana. The real violence is not in Christian’s playroom, but in his everyday life. Violence is not a game with a whip and a stack, it is his desire to control Ana’s every step and keep her near him at any cost, regardless of her own desires. In the finale, Ana finally realizes this, and when Christian, not remembering himself, is ready to run after the girl in order to bring her back again, Ana uses the language he understands the most – the language of the Agreement.

Many viewers noted that the ending was somewhat crumpled compared to the overall development of the plot in the film. Ana and Christian’s relationship is developing extremely slowly, the process of their careful rapprochement takes up most of the screen time. The gap is happening extremely rapidly, and we are not even shown what happened next. Of course, this is done with an eye to the next parts of the trilogy, but the swiftness of the final scene itself can be a metaphor for the disappointment that often ends first love in reality. We can nurture our first feelings for another person for months, but reality destroys these dreams overnight. So it happened with Ana – suddenly, overnight, the world of her crush collapsed, and it is this feeling of an unexpected end that is conveyed by the ending of the film “Fifty Shades of Gray”.

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