It Ends With Us (15)

Lily Bloom moves to Boston and falls under the spell of charming neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid. As the connection deepens, Lily sees a different and troubling side to Ryle that reminds her of her parents' turbulent relationship. First love Atlas Corrigan unexpectedly reenters Lily's life and she faces a stark choice between men, who offer her very different futures.

LondonNet Film Review

It Ends With Us (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Love hurts, but the fists and fury of an intimate partner should never be the source of that pain. Adapted by screenwriter Christy Hall from Colleen Hoover’s novel, It Ends With Us is a glossy romantic drama which explores the complexities of abusive relationships, tracing the psychological impact of physical and sexual violence across generations of women and men, who largely suffer in silence. Scenes of intimidation, coercive control and jealous rage are sensitively handled, focusing predominantly on the aftermath of each incident such as a bite mark on a shoulder or the bloodied face of a victim being wheeled on a stretcher into the back of an ambulance…

“Naked truths aren’t always pretty,” observes the film’s lead character, played with quiet resolve by Blake Lively. Co-star Justin Baldoni, who also directs, counters the assertion with his gratuitous topless scenes to showcase an outrageously chiselled torso before his intensely self-assured medic reveals chinks of ugliness within. Hoover’s novel provides swooning dialogue (“If you find yourself in a position to fall in love again, fall in love with me!”) but Hall’s script edits the source text for brevity, punctuating the self-reflection with dreamy flashbacks to a romance between the teenage heroine (Isabela Ferrer) and her schooldays sweetheart (Alex Neustaedter).

Lily Bloom (Lively) returns to her childhood home of Plethora, Maine, to attend the funeral of her father Andrew (Kevin McKidd), the former town mayor who beat his wife Jenny (Amy Morton) behind closed doors. The eulogy has been entrusted to Lily. “It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve never written,” she confesses, refusing to lavish kind words on a brute, who terrorised everyone he claimed to love.

A defiant Lily returns to Boston and is attracted to neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni), who lives on the top floor of an apartment block, next door to his younger sister Allysa (Jenny Slate) and her husband (Hasan Minhaj). Lily surrenders to Ryle’s advances but one night, she glimpses a troubling side to her beau. Childhood love Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar), who warrants a heart-shaped tattoo on Lily’s shoulder, also happens to be in Boston. Old flames reconnect and Lily faces a stark choice between her present and past.

It Ends With Us refers to Lily’s efforts to break the cycle of intimate partner violence, which has gnarled the branches of her family tree. Lively anchors the film and is compelling, catalysing molten on-screen chemistry with Baldoni for their steamy couplings. Sklenar has limited screen time to make an impact. Slate provides welcome comic relief but also urges self-reservation with one of the film’s hammer blow lines (recited verbatim from the novel). Expertly soundtracked montages bloat the running time beyond two hours. It ends with empowerment and regretful acknowledgment.

– Sarah Lee