5. Ana’s nighttime confession
In the book, there’s a lot more discussion about Ana talking in her sleep. And after Christian tells her that she confessed something one night, she spends much of the last part of the book trying to get him to tell her what she said. In fact, in their final fight scene—which leads to the spanking incident that ruins everything—Christian finally tells Ana the truth: “You said you wouldn’t leave me, and you begged me not to leave you, in your sleep.” It’s that statement that then leads to Ana asking Christian to show her how much being his submissive can hurt. And, well, you know the rest.
6. Third person POV
Unlike the book, the film takes a third-person perspective. At no point is the viewer treated to what Ana’s thinking. There are no voiceovers, and no real way for viewers to figure out what she’s feeling, other than through her dialogue with other characters and Dakota Johnson’s acting. This is probably the biggest change from book to film, considering that the book is told entirely from Ana’s perspective; many of its pages are spent contemplating her feelings toward Christian and his fifty shades.
All in all, the changes are fairly minor. Odds are, book readers won’t leave the film feeling cheated unless they just really wanted to watch Ana and Christian spoon—which also doesn’t make the film.