“No rules, no punishment, no secrets” states firmly Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson), who seems to be more self-confident and less submissive after she left with the pretty billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) at the end of the first chapter of the E.L. James’s trilogy.

Renegotiating the terms seems to be the only way for the couple to be back together once again, and Christian is willing to do everything in his power to have Ana back in his life. She probably believes in second chances and eventually the two start their relationship as “normal” lovers, even though the word “normal” doesn’t really belong to their story.

Steamy sex scenes cannot be avoided, as they are exactly what people expect to see, but this time they are not meaningless if contextualised in a proper relationship. As long as the plot develops, the couple continue to face some problems, this time due to an insane (or sane?) jealousy  from each side. At least the protagonists seem more truthful than in the prequel and the spectator can better identify with them.

Despite the intriguing echo of Kubrick’s Eyes wide shut during the masked ball sequence, better lines should have deserved the awarded Kim Besinger, playing the “Mrs Robinson” of the story who started Christian to his hunger of sex. Their storyline might have had more space, since we all want to dig into Christian’s past and find out the real story of his childhood.

The plot is a bit chaotic, but still much stronger than the one in the first movie. At least, it shows a couple struggling with everyday life problems, though sometimes their past mistakes threaten to take the two apart. We hope that director James Foley and the scriptwriter Niall Leonard (James’s husband) will give the story the finale it deserves in the last chapter, Fifty Shades Freed.