A film adaptation of the best-selling book about a florist who grew up with an abusive father and, as an adult, found herself in the same situation as her mother was released worldwide in 2024. Does it sound like a dark social drama? But no. On the screen, there will be beautiful autumn landscapes, men who look like Disney princes, and Blake Lively changing fashionable suits and dresses every five minutes, just like in the days of Gossip Girl.
I watched this tape while preparing for a list of the best romance movies of 2024. And today, I wanted to share my It Ends With Us movie review.
Summary
Lily Bloom wants to give a eulogy at her father’s funeral but freezes in front of the audience with blank paper. Memories paralyze her: as a child, she witnessed how cruelly her father treated her mother. Having left her hometown in Maine, Lily moves to Boston, where she starts a new life and opens her flower shop. At the same time, she meets neurosurgeon Ryle. He immediately makes it clear that he is not ready for a serious relationship. In turn, Lily is not prepared for one-night intimacy. But Ryle accepts her position since he has such strong feelings for the first time. Lily ignores that the moment they meet, the neurosurgeon is upset about something, smashing furniture.
Meanwhile, the story of the heroine’s first love unfolds in flashbacks. Years ago, Lily had a touching romance with homeless teenager Atlas. These scenes, of course, appear for a reason. Adult Atlas also lives in Boston, and he and Lily will meet by chance one day.
Is the movie It Ends With Us worth watching?
Why I like this movie.
Beautiful visual.
It is both a pro and con of the film.
Boston amazes with its splendor. The film features chic restaurants, parties, outfits, and a beautiful flower shop. All characters live in spacious, designer-furnished apartments with stunning views. The color scheme is in pleasant honey-amber tones, as is the main character’s wardrobe.
Lily is generally the most beautiful in this picture. She has breathtaking fluffy hair, almost always loose and never tangled. She wears outfits from the world’s catwalks and perfectly selected accessories, which the camera takes in such close-up as if it were a store on the sofa and not a big movie on a serious topic that worries millions of women.
Honestly, for the first half of the film, I wanted hair like Lily’s and all her rings and earrings. If you want more films with great visuals, check out these 16 movies with stunning visuals.
The film has a believable flow.
To many, the film seemed drawn out because, for a whole hour, we were watching the beautiful romance of the characters with absolutely no poignancy. But I think this technique is entirely justified. Often, the abuser does not show his proper temperament to the victim for a very long time.
We see a story of abuse that is much less obvious than we are used to.
The film captures the transition from romantic idyll to beatings with skill and subtlety that is often lacking in films on this subject. The viewer observes the first incidents through the eyes of the enamored Lily. So they look like an unintentional oversight, an accident that is so easy to explain. It seems that such a thing will not happen again. And then it suddenly happens again. And again. But these episodes of violence are rare. There are only a few of them in the entire film, drowning in the decorative entourage of a classic rom-com.
Not all abusers are evil people.
I liked the idea that not all abusers are horrible and mentally ill people, narcissists, and potential maniacs, like in the old Jennifer Lopez movie “Enough.” They may even have some reflection. But if the victim stays in a weak position, then sooner or later, the supposed accident becomes the rule, and the beatings become more frequent and more severe.
Why I don’t like this movie.
It is an overly beautiful and inspiring movie.
Yes, a pleasant picture played its positive and negative function in this film – the film seems artificial and overly optimistic. However, several scenes in the movie can bring tears. A fundamental and terrible problem – violence and abusive relationships in the family – is shown in a purely Hollywood way. The neurosurgeon is definitely a psycho. Women run away!
Superficial, poor presentation of the topic.
Blake fits the role of the heroine-victim as well as the role of a Chinese pilot. I think she failed to play a weak woman who, due to her father’s cruel treatment, never learned to resist men. She tries to play her, but we see only a beautiful, well-groomed woman wearing the latest fashion, walking and speaking beautifully. We see Adaline from “The Age of Adaline,” but there is no drama. We do not see an internal fracture. Everything is bland and rather straightforward.
Her abuser husband, as a character, is much more multifaceted and interesting.
The film looks like a melodrama about a love triangle.
It Will End With Us tries to balance a serious statement with a frankly entertaining movie. In most cases, the scales tip toward the latter.
The socially acute message that the film’s creators wanted to convey gets bogged down in a classic rom-com triangle: an attractive woman and two men who are in love with her, one of whom is certainly a charming scoundrel, and the second is a man in love with puppy eyes, ready to wait for a second chance for decades. If you find one, let me know because, for some reason, all my exes are already married.
Her best friend Alice (one of my favorite characters in the film) and the abuser’s sister seem to have come out of a sitcom. A rich woman living in a penthouse comes to get a job as a saleswoman in a flower shop. It is very unusual…
Atlas is an unrealistic character.
Atlas is literally an unrealistic character. He is just a backup airfield for the main character. For so many years, he has not had any personal life. All he does is wait for Lily. In the book, the author describes him in more detail and portrays him as a serious, real person, even though he performs the same actions, remaining practically inactive.
The heroine’s inner world is poorly represented.
But most importantly, I wanted to see more realism and emotion, especially from the main character. The theme of violence is very deep and complex, but this film reveals it superficially and weakly.
Lily spends an hour and a half smiling dazzlingly at her partner, who is stalking and even beating her, and then, with the same Hollywood grin and flying gait, she suddenly decides to change everything. Well, she wrinkles her forehead a little in a couple of scenes.
The picture suffers from being much more focused on the reasons for male behavior than on the inner world of a woman, who expresses herself on camera mainly through clothes, makeup, and hair.
The viewer is practically deprived of the opportunity to feel the girl’s internal transformation, development, and search for internal support. Instead, at the end, the director gives us heart-wrenching details from the abuser’s life. Are we supposed to justify him?
No, I am not interested in why HE did it. But I would like to see how a WOMAN, being in such a relationship, gets out of the cycle of violence that paralyzes the will and mind. Preferably – not because another handsome man in love with her is waiting for her somewhere: a dangerous illusion about some mythically brave savior. Lily was lucky to have Atlas around, but what about real life?
The book is better
I have to mention that the book greatly wins over the film. The book tells a lot about the girl’s feelings and thoughts – how she fought with herself, what she said would never happen to her, and how she justified the guy. Plus, we can learn more about her parents, Atlas, and even Ryle. The novel shows the typical behavior of such men, and the film loses all of this. The film’s sentimentality flipped around “I feel sorry for him, not her.”
Many people feel sorry for Ryle.
Part of the precious screen time is devoted to Ryle’s family history, which turns out to be the main surprise of the film. And, if it does not justify the hero, then it makes you sympathize with him almost more than with the unyielding Lily (she can handle it anyway).
After watching the film, I read many reviews, and the opinions were probably divided 50/50. About half of the viewers felt sorry for the surgeon and believed Lily should give him a second chance. Someone generally considered him an ideal husband. If he beats you, it means he loves you.
With such an approach, everything will definitely not end with us.
My thoughts.
All the film’s minuses I listed prevent me from eliminating the artificiality of what is happening on the screen. Having reached the finale, I should believe that love alone is not enough for a relationship, that self-respect is essential, and that your life is priceless.
However, it is difficult to reach this conclusion because, according to the script, the heroine is still trapped in a banal love triangle. This means that in place of the bad guy, there should simply be a good one, and a happy ending will happen.
Final words.
It Will Ends With Us will remain in my head as a film about how beautifully both a woman and a tyrant man escaped the situation.
What do you think about this film? I would like to hear your opinion in the comments.
Share this blog post if you enjoyed it. I would appreciate it!
I haven’t seen this movie, but now I’m curious. Fascinating review!
I totally agree that Atlas was a useless character. It felt like he was there just for the excuse of having a love triangle, but honestly, it would’ve been better if his character was left in the flashback scenes only, and there was more of a concentration on Ryle.
Eh, I’d watch it. I’ve found that when it comes to movies like this, I usually have to lower the bar a little. Hollywood just doesn’t like to portray what abuse really looks like.
I have a friend who went through an abusive relationship, and I asked her about this movie after she watched it. She said it was a decent enough look at abuse as far as Hollywood is concerned but nowhere near the real experience.
I hadn’t watched this movie before and I didn’t even know the name but it’s an interesting review of many aspects of the movie. I will share this with my partner and see if we want to watch it together.
I’ll probably read the book first to get the full story, but I appreciate your honest review. It’s a bit disappointing that the main character’s struggles and growth feel shallow.
Thoughtful review about this movie. I didn’t see it and don’t plan to and her pros and cons are pretty conclusive on why I didn’t choose to. Thanks for the details.
I think i’ll wait for it to get to Netflix or Sky Cinemas. It makes me think about the real-life dynamics that can exist in relationships. I agree, though, the film skims the surface on some heavier themes, and I too wish it had delved deeper into Lily’s internal struggles. Thanks for sharing your thoughts; they really made me reflect on both the beauty and the burden of this story!
This sounds like it would be an interesting movie. I do really like Blake as she is a great actress and does an amazing job in all her roles. I like that it paints a different image of the abuser than other films although abuse is still abuse. It certainly is a movie that I would like to go and see when I get the chance.
Hhhhmmm…this is my cue, to finally watch this movie. I missed getting it at the cinema; it’s not escaping me now.