It Ends with Us

Directed by: Justin Baldoni

Written by: Christy Hall based on Colleen Hoover novel

Lily Bloom (Blake Lively) is trying to process the death of her father, who she loved, but also witnessed his violence towards her mother (Amy Morton). When she meets Ryle (Justin Baldoni) a doctor, smart and caring. Soon they fall into a relationship, but when she bumps into a childhood friend, Atlas (Brandon Sklenar), she finds that the cycle of violence she witnessed growing up, may now be a part of her life again.

To be upfront I found this and intriguing watch. But I also appreciate it’s walking a tightrope in dealing with a disturbing issue, in the rather glossy way it chooses too.

On the plus side,  It felt a layered and nuanced look at the disturbing complexity of this vile crime. For a long time, it tries to leave you unbalanced and unsure of what is going on, even if the signs are always there, with a forboding and threatening current never far from the surface. Lively carries much of the film and gives a strong performance, with subtlety, never seemingly the victim until it’s too late. But ehile Baldoni becomes increasingly menacing, he and Sklenar, as the men in Lily’s life, are perhaps too obvious and predictable.

And that is were the films main criticism lies, that, for the complexity of its difficult theme, the story is too predictable, the characters story arcs too obvious. The feeling I had leaving the cinema was that perhaps it was all too neat and tidy, its glossy glamour jarring against the darkness of its main storyline, that’s not to say money is a protection from domestic violence, but in this setting it runs the risk of making the characters too glossy to be real. And the story line wrapped in a too convenient bow.

I found this intriguing and compelling with Blake Lively giving a strong performance. But it was also too clean, tidy and a bit predictable, in a way that perhaps fails to do justice to its tough themes. Now while that didn’t stop me being engaged and fully bought into Lily’s story. I do get why it hasn’t worked for everyone.