The film adaptation of Coleen Hoover’s “It Ends with Us” starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni received an overwhelming amount of attention, good and bad, following its release on Aug. 9.
Based on a relationship between 23-year-old Lily Blossom Bloom and 30-year-old Ryle Kincaid, the movie unpacks the complex web of emotions and decisions surrounding being in an abusive relationship. Like any book-to-movie adaptation, some elements of the two productions differed from each other.
Sophomore Avika Guttigoli claimed that the book as opposed to the movie was more complex, especially when related to topics such as domestic violence.
“[The book] was a little darker and just got more in depth with the characters and what was going on in Lily’s head and how she felt with her situation,” Guttigoli said. “I don’t think they romanticized domestic violence, but I think it was bypassed a little bit.”
To put the viewers in Lily Bloom’s position, the movie accurately depicts how she could simply justify her injuries from Ryle as mistakes rather than intentional.
In the beginning of the movie, viewers see Ryle injure Lily in multiple instances; however, in each case his actions truly appear as though they were accidental.
Later in the movie, as Lily is trying to come to terms with her dire situation, a montage of the earlier clips of her getting injured clearly display acts of intentional abuse, symbolizing Lily’s realization of what her husband is doing to her.
A missing part of the movie according to sophomore Lillie Lopez was information about Lily Bloom’s past.
“The book had more information about the background, and the movie kind of gave like a quick flashback and then mostly talked about the present,” Lopez said.
Atlas, Lily’s old high school boyfriend, was a more prominent figure in the book than in the movie. As Lopez mentioned, much of the book took place in the past where it dove deep into the romantic connection between Lily and Atlas whereas the movie had one or two brief flashbacks to their relationship.
Freshman Alexa Chavez described the actors’ portrayal of the sensitive subject of domestic abuse as “phenomenal.”
“They displayed the difficulties and patterns that follow abusive relationships,” Chavez said.
In her novel, Hoover repeatedly used the phrase “just keep swimming” from the movie, “Finding Nemo” as a motivating mantra to keep Lily and Atlas strong no matter what life threw at them.
This quote, although not directly stated in the film, is portrayed through a “Finding Nemo” poster on a wall, a Nemo plush toy and a game of “Go Fish” at the beginning of the movie. This artistic choice sprinkles some hope into the overall depressing setting of the movie.
Aside from the movie itself, Lively and Baldoni received a great amount of hate revolving around how they handled the “It Ends with Us” press tour.
Forbes magazine describes Lively’s interview responses as “tone-deaf.” In many viral clips of Lively during the press tour, interviewers asked deep questions surrounding domestic abuse and Lively either gave a half-hearted response showing little to no empathy or she found a way to bring up fashion or one of her brands.
One interviewer asked, “What has been your favorite part in making this particular movie?”
Lively avoided the question and instead said “I’ve noticed so many beautiful crystals on teeth. Is that a big fashion thing here?”
Lively completely disregarded the question and instead started a conversation on the teeth crystals the interviewer was wearing. Fans also compared Baldoni’s intentions to Lively’s intentions of promoting the movie.
After the release of his movie, Baldoni put a link in his Instagram bio for people suffering from domestic abuse to seek help. By doing this, the actor used his platform and recent publicity to spread awareness and help people in need. Unlike Baldoni, Lively’s Instagram bio remained the same, containing links to her alcohol brand.
Lively also reinforced her “tone-deaf” promotion of the movie by captioning her Instagram post on Aug. 4, “When your company throws a florist themed party for your movie.” She again mentioned her movie lightheartedly, focusing on the beautiful floral theme of her party rather than its content.
To make matters worse, Lively made another post on the same exact day launching her new haircare brand, “Blake Brown Beauty.” The comment sections on both posts are flooded with negative comments and opinions about Lively’s use of her recent publicity to promote her brands.
These recent actions have made fans skeptical of how empathetic Lively is when it comes to difficult issues such as the ones portrayed in her movie. Fans have now named Lively Hollywood’s newest “mean girl.”
Rumors also circulated about beef between Baldoni and the rest of the cast. The actor did not appear in any of the movie’s promo photos which made viewers suspicious of tension among the cast. Baldoni served as the director for the movie while Lively served as one of the producers, allowing fans to pin the cause of their apparent tension on creative differences between the two stars.
Lively and Hoover also unfollowed Baldoni on social media which only made suspicions worse. It is still unclear what went down on the “It Ends with Us” set.
“Many fans are also praising Baldoni for being vocal about the true nature of the film, while spreading awareness about the intimate partner violence,” Forbes magazine said. “On the other hand, there is speculation that Baldoni may have been a difficult director to work with on-set, adding to the unverified rumor mill.”
If you or someone you know is suffering from domestic violence, call the hotline at 800-799-7233 to seek help today.
