• Release year: 2024
• Director: Justin Baldoni.
• Producers: Christy Hall, Jamey Heath, Blake Lively and Alex Saks.
• Screenplay by: Christy Hall.
• Cinematography by: Barry Peterson.
• Music by: Duncan Blickenstaff and Rob Simonsen.

Shotgun Commentary: absolute must-watch for anyone who wishes to avoid toxic relationship.

Review

It Ends with Us follows Lily Bloom (Blake Lively) from the moment her father dies until she makes the most important decision of her life. Throughout the film, you get snippets of her past that slowly paint a picture of her background, at the same time as you see what Bloom is up to now. While unravelling her trauma, you accompany her on her love story with Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni), an absolute red flag from the first five seconds he appears on-screen.

Vital lessons

The story portrays faithfully what it is like to be involved in a toxic relationship, its grey areas, and why so many women fall prey to it. It is always hard to imagine how someone would want to be with a person that hurts them, but people often forget that the beginning of those relationships looks nothing like the situations they hear about. This feature is a great depiction of how women get to be in that terrible position, thus providing an unofficial manual about how to avoid not only being victim, but also perpetrator, of the pain of a loved one.

As established, the theme of the film is incredibly relevant. A crucial topic that has long remained undiscussed, and that is finally showcased from a purely female perspective. A promising evolution in an art form that has made a spectacle of female suffering for far too long.

Nevertheless, the translation of the original text into an audiovisual product presents a few issues that must be addressed.

Loose ends

The first moment that feels quite off is their meet cute. Granted, this might also be a text issue, but it feels so artificial that they would start talking about sex for no reason within two minutes of knowing each other. Almost as iffy as the sexually charged music that accompanies the moment, even though the chemistry is barely there. The whole situation feels so forced that it reads as dangerous rather than seductive or romantic, then again, that might have been the point all along.

The next problematic moment that needs highlighting is the love sequence. You know, the typical sequence of a couple in the honeymoon stage of their relationship doing cliché cute stuff. In this feature it feels eternal, not only due to its stereotypical nature, but also because of how boring the editing is. Neither the content nor its construction are engaging at all, presenting you with the perfect moment to abandon the movie and start watching something else if you happen to be streaming it, and to wonder why you wasted your money on a film you want to leave if you are watching it at the cinema.

That sequence alone probably wouldn’t be perceived so badly if it weren’t for the many surreal situations that are sprinkled in the film, the type of moments that only happen in romantic films. These include painting over wall paper instead of removing it and then painting, leaving your business mid-task, sleeping with a bra and tights on… Not to mention the intense teenager soundtrack that bathes the whole movie in a layer of mediocrity, robbing it of the gravity its narrative deserves.

Not in the mood for mood

Lily is cottagecore incarnate, the character you expect Taylor Swift in the cover of Evermore to be. Her incredibly aesthetic life is almost too perfect to be relatable at all. She has everything, the hair, the clothes, the indie flower shop, enough economic independence to not feel out of place dating an incredibly rich guy… She seems like a character right out of a fanfic or a Pinterest mood board. So much so that, even though her story is interesting, it is incredibly hard to connect with her during most of the feature. Lively delivers a great performance despite her annoying non-stop lip biting, but it is still not enough to bring Lily to a realistic plane where the rest of us mortals can find a link to her. Luckily, Bloom eventually finds her path to reality, making you empathise with her story.

All in all, It Ends with Us is a lesson in growth, self-love and the dangers of remaining blind to the obvious. It is the basic education everyone should receive from their family and loved ones if they expect to be in healthy, nourishing relationships. It does have its imperfections, but the relevance of the topic overshadows them.

Thanks to Sony Pictures for big screen access!

Advice to take from this movie:

• No one has the right to tell you who you can or can’t hang out with. NO ONE.
• One must always remain alert when one is getting to know someone. The signs are always there, it is us who decide to remain oblivious.
• In terms of decoration, there is such thing as too many things.

What’s your take? Have you watched It Ends with Us? What did you enjoy more, the book or the film? What do you think of toxic relationships and the female perspective in cinema?

Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or leave a message in my contact page! For more reviews and cinema-related articles, check out the rest of my blog! 😀