In Fifty Shades, Christian Grey repeatedly tells Anastasia Steele that she is free to leave, that everything is her choice. Yet, as the story deepens, viewers begin to question: was Ana ever truly free, or was she being pulled into a world where love blurred with control, and freedom was an illusion dressed in diamonds?
From the start, Christian presents himself as a man who doesn’t do love. He does contracts, limits, and control. And while Ana agrees—hesitantly—to explore his world, her heart craves something different. What began as a curiosity quickly becomes an emotional trap.
While Christian never physically forces Ana to stay, the emotional stakes are staggering. He showers her with lavish gifts, unpredictable affection, and then withdraws behind his carefully constructed walls. One moment, he’s offering her the world. The next, he’s reminding her of the rules.
This push and pull was intentional, according to director Sam Taylor-Johnson, who revealed in a behind-the-scenes interview that several deleted scenes portrayed Christian’s psychological grip even more clearly. “There were scenes where Christian didn’t need to raise his voice—his silence was enough to make Ana feel like she’d disappointed him. That silence became a weapon.”
Ana’s internal struggle—between her desire for independence and her longing for him—is what gives the film its true tension. While she signs his contract, she also constantly questions its boundaries. She doesn’t want to be another submissive in his list. She wants to be seen.
As their relationship progresses, Ana starts to challenge Christian’s rules. She calls him out, pushes him to open up, and demands emotional transparency. Slowly, the man who once seemed unshakeable begins to unravel. He starts to question not just their relationship—but himself.
But the question remains: did Christian ever truly give her freedom?
One chilling deleted scene, never included in the final cut of Fifty Shades Freed, reportedly showed Ana sneaking out in the early morning after a fight—only to be quietly followed by one of Christian’s private security team. Fans who saw the leaked script were stunned. “It changes everything,” one Reddit user posted. “It proves he never stopped watching, even when he said he trusted her.”
Eventually, Christian claims he’s changed. He proposes without conditions. He lets Ana into his heart. But traces of control linger—he buys the publishing company she works at, he hires her bodyguards without asking, and he still expects obedience in subtle ways.
Ana, for her part, walks the tightrope of love and autonomy. She accepts him, but not blindly. She teaches him that love is not about possession—it’s about choice. And perhaps that’s her greatest act of rebellion: staying, not because she’s trapped, but because she chooses to love him in spite of it all.
In the end, Christian and Ana’s love isn’t a fairytale—it’s a battleground of identity, compromise, and healing. And the scars they carry, both emotional and literal, are reminders of the long road they had to walk to find balance.
They didn’t just fall in love. They fought for it. And for Ana, the real freedom came not when Christian said she could leave—but when she finally believed she could stay on her own terms.
