The film It Ends with Us is from Justin Baldoni who also directed 2019’s Five Feet Apart among other well-known films. He also plays one of the major roles in the movie. The script is from Christie Hall who made her debut as a director in the movie Daddy-O and is based on the novel with the same name by Colleen Hoover which became a New York's best seller in 2023.

 

Lily, the film's lead, is a highly likeable heroine who is attempting to fulfill her aspirations in spite of a horrific upbringing that haunts her. Blake Lively who plays Lily Bloom, has just opened a flower shop in Boston and crosses paths with a handsome neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid (played by Justin Baldoni). She meets Allysa (Jenny Slate), an affluent young socialite who is bored enough to go into an empty store, beg for a job, and make friends with Lily, when she's cleaning the area for her store. Now Ryle is a womanizer who decides to give a real relationship a chance, whereas Lily seems to have found the perfect man until his dark side emerges and she finds herself falling into same patterns that had haunted her mother. What I liked was to do a deep dive into the darker side of this charming doctor who made my heart melt in the beginning of the movie. In addition, she is Ryle's sister. Amidst all this drama enters Atlas Corrigan played by Brandon Sklenar (known for 1923) who is Lily's teenage love and he sees the effects of Riley's abusive behavior and encourages her to leave him. Now from here, one might think of this movie as a torrid love triangle that would culminate in Lily leaving Ryle and ending up meeting Atlas in the rain. The movie jumps between memories and the present, showing a young Lily (played by Isabela Ferrer) pursuing a homeless and young Atlas (Alex Neustaedter). But there is more to this movie than just paperback clichés. It has a sweet exterior, but inside as Lily and Ryle’s relationship spirals, the story becomes less of romance and more of lies and abuse that we tell ourselves to maintain an illusion of a perfect, healthy relationship. There are scenes with heavy melodrama, and there are scenes also that are very frightening, not because Ryle is evil but because he is good at hiding things. In fact, he is actually so good at hiding things that Lily questions herself about whether she is the one misinterpreting things. This is actually a stark reminder of the living hell the victims of abuse, mainly women, endure day after day.

 

It Ends With Us actually has something important to say, and it doesn’t trivialize that by insulting the audience’s intelligence or by sensationalizing it. Blake Lively actually anchors this film when she explores her past and realizes that she is becoming what she didn’t want to which is a victim. Baldoni's main responsibility as the director is to present Lively and himself in the best possible light, which he does throughout. When the plot permits, Baldoni also has some directing talent. Baldoni for instance, sets up a number of pivotal situations so that viewers unintentionally see the events from Lily's point of view. He goes back to those situations later to demonstrate to us how Lily has made the decision to "not see" difficult things all of her life. The film's mood is well complemented by the cinematography and score which heightens the suspense in key parts and allows the audience to fully experience the story's emotional impact.

 

Although the movie moves at a good pace, there are moments when the second act seems hurried, especially when addressing Atlas's plot. One of the film’s greatest strengths is its ability to spark conversation around the complexities of abuse, love, and survival. Many scenes from the book adaptations have been removed. The same is also true of the film. But removing these scenes seemed to be a rushed task. Baldoni's straightforward treatment of Lily's mental trick perfectly conveys how easy it would be to start telling our own stories in an untrustworthy manner. Despite being clichéd and predictable, It Ends With Us is a captivating romantic melodrama that captured my attention. I would rate this movie 8 out of 10 based on Baldoni’s direction and Lively’s performance. Go for it; it’s available on Netflix.