In cinema as in sex, a dose of self-awareness can do wonders. Johnson, radiant and committed, gives Ana a certain confidence and ease that she’d never had before, and Christian, the man of steel himself, proves he has a few decent jokes in him – though Dornan struggles slightly to portray that goofiness. (Kim Basinger’s cameo in “Darker” and “Freed” as Elena, Christian’s long-ago sexual obsession, cinches the connection.) At this point, who would have thought that a “Fifty Shades” film, supposedly interested in the very alternative kind of sexual experimentation, would provide enjoyable (and maybe for some, even exciting) sequences of respectful and playful foreplay and oral sex?Įven more surprising: how this lighter approach to sexual intercourse seems to lift the spirits of the characters along with the tone. She even makes Christian partake in the cliche of licking food off of a partner’s body - in a deliberate echo of the honey-dripping sequence in “9 ½ Weeks,” Ana finds a new application for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and turns that famous sexual game into a more reciprocal exchange than it was in Adrian Lyne’s film. In “Freed,” by contrast, sex is often funny, because Ana wants it that way. As it turns out, Christian’s treatment of sex in an overly serious manner had only served to emphasize its weirdness, making it disheartening and isolating for both consenting adults.
50 shades of grey sex series#
By adapting its heroine’s perspective, the series displays a willingness to accept that sex can be a ridiculous proposition - and that concession rids this installment of the suffocating pomposity found in its predecessors.
In other words, she introduces him to foreplay. She takes advantage of her new marital situation to blur the line between submission and control, teasing Christian sexually as much as she can. These moments of self-affirmation are both galvanizing and perplexing, hinting at a new feminist-leaning and more playful moment for Ana, while also being too insubstantial and out of character to constitute a true cause for celebration.īut the territory on which Ana asserts herself is, of course, the bedroom. At work, she tells Christian, “the boss of her boss of her boss,” that she might have to stay at the office later than planned. While honeymooning in Nice, she goes topless despite her husband’s possessive forbidding. After the painfully one-sided sexual adventure of the first film, in which she met Christian and was brutally exposed to his odd habits, and after Christian’s even nastier control-freakishness in the ill-conceived “50 Shades Darker,” Ana is at last able to demand to hold the reins from time to time - a narrative turn that manages to frame their marriage as an empowering structure for women: now enclosed in the gilded cage of their union, Ana can pull on the rope that Christian had tied around her neck. James’ bestselling series of erotic novels, the newly-married Ana is finally striving for more freedom in her relationship with her dominant partner.
In director James Foley’s second contribution to the cinematic brand extension of E.L. Finally, the “Fifty Shades” phenomenon has yielded a disarming comedy that makes this ridiculous material fun to watch.
50 shades of grey sex movie#
In any case, the mutual participation at play in this sex scene makes it a lot more exciting to watch than any of Christian’s theatrical BDSM tricks, and the rest of the movie follows suit. Yet all in all, she’s only asking for the respect that she rightfully deserves. Compared to how submissive and sapped of all agency the character was in her two previous outings, Ana does seem extremely mischievous in “50 Shades Freed,” the third and presumably last entry in this kinky franchise.
“Because I can,” she replies, which only excites her partner more. “Why do you defy me?” asks Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) to his new wife Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) as they have passionate sex with the help of handcuffs.