'I was sceptical about Blake Lively's film It Ends With Us. I was wrong.'

Warning: This post deals with domestic violence and could be triggering for some readers.

After months of anticipation and countless think-pieces, Colleen Hoover's first film adaption of her bestseller It Ends With Us has been released into the world.

It Ends with Us follows Lily Bloom, a young woman who moves to Boston to open a flower shop after her abusive father's funeral. She soon meets Ryle Kincaid, a charming neurosurgeon, and they begin a passionate-albeit-tumultuous relationship. But eventually things shift between the couple when Ryle's abusive nature slowly emerges after they get married, echoing Lily's childhood experiences of witnessing her father abuse her mother. 

The story alternates between Lily's present and her past, where we meet her first love, Atlas, as a homeless teenager.

As Lily's relationship with Ryle becomes increasingly abusive, she crosses paths with an adult Atlas, who is now a successful restauranteur, as Lily must grapple with how to break the cycle of abuse in her family.

The film is a collaborative affair, with Hoover serving as executive producer, alongside Blake Lively (as Lily) who leads the movie with Justin Baldoni (as Ryle), who serves as the director. The cast is rounded out with Brandon Sklenar as Atlas, Jenny Slate as Allysa, Amy Morton as Jenny and Hasan Minhaj as Marshall.

Watch the trailer. Post continues after video.

I didn't know what to expect from this movie, but it exceeded my expectations tenfold. Despite Hoover's at times simplistic and cliche dialogue in the book, the screenplay by Christy Hall manages to be refreshingly original, witty and powerful. 

For one pivotal scene when Lily and Ryle first meet on the rooftop, Lively admitted she enlisted the help of her husband Ryan Reynolds to write the scene, which explains its unexpected quirkiness and humour. 

Ahead of the film's release, critics raised concerns over how the book had romanticised an abusive relationship, with people unsure of how that would translate on film. 

It Ends With Us is far from perfect in the way it confronts the intricacies of the cycles of abuse. One moment sticks out, as Lily clumsily turns to her mother to ask her 'why didn't you leave' her abusive husband which felt more like a box-ticking exercise than an authentic exchange between a daughter and mother. The brief moments between Lily and her mother, Jenny, were a missed opportunity to provide more nuance to the mother's suffering, which was largely overlooked.

The pacing of the movie spending so much time building the relationship between Lily and Ryle, showing their tender moments, could also be the subject of criticism, with people uncomfortable with how much an abuser is humanised in this film. 

But I would disagree, the film captures the reality that abusive men are not always obvious monsters: they can act perfectly nice at times, have respectable jobs, and have sympathetic backstories. But this shouldn't negate their abusive actions and in the case of Lily, she ultimately has to decide what's best for herself and her safety. 

The dynamic between Lily and Ryle will divide opinion. Image: Sony. 

It Ends With Us offers an important example of how abusive relationships are layered. In the case of Ryle, there were a series of jealous microaggressions, subtle red flags and emotionally manipulative moments that unfolded — all before the character ever laid a hand on Lily. 

In the three instances of physical violence depicted in the movie, there is a clear line that starts to be crossed between what Ryle deems as an 'accident' to a full-fledged example of domestic violence. This echoes many women's stories of domestic violence often building over time and women feeling gaslit by their abusers into believing they misunderstood what had happened.

Leaving any sort of abusive relationship isn't straightforward, which is something that is tackled throughout the second half of the film as tension builds when Lily considers the idea of taking back Ryle. It's a decision that so many women in abusive relationships face.  

The concerns that some of the more cringy moments in the book wouldn't translate into a modern movie were mostly unfounded. The movie manages to acknowledge Lily's affinity for watching The Ellen DeGeneres Show, which was playing in the background in a flashback, but doesn't delve into the whole narrative sidebar of Lily writing her diary entries addressed to Ellen, aside from one blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot. 

Considering the talk show host's recent controversies, this was for the best. 

Despite a few shaky moments and clumsy lines, the movie is carried by Blake's career-best performance. As Lily, she is warm, magnetic, and engaging, bringing much-needed lightness to this often dark script while tackling some of the more complex subjects with grace and maturity. 

Yes, for those naysayers who dared to say Lively was 'too old' for this part, her wealth of acting years and life experience were an obvious asset in grounding this complicated character. 

The rest of the leads are perfectly cast with Baldoni a clear standout. As Ryle, he has a commanding presence with searing charisma (helped by his outrageously handsome features) but with darkness always simmering under the surface. Despite some reservations from fans, Sklenar gives a raw, earthy, and humble Atlas, with both leads managing to build believable chemistry with Lively's Lily. 

Slate does struggle at times with the more dramatic scenes, but her chemistry with Lively is evident and she lights up during the Character's zany comedic moments.

Justin Baldoni is phenomenal in It Ends With Us. Image: Sony. 

The soundtrack was one for the girlies. Between Bon Iver's 'Skinny Love' cover by Birdy and an ethereal cover of Britney Spears's 'Everytime' by Ethel Cain, the music was a masterclass in catchy girly bops and sentimental throwbacks. 

And of course, the song that Taylor Swift's fan base was waiting for has a moment to shine. As featured in the first trailer, Swift's masterful 'My Tears Ricochet' plays almost in full in one of the film's most heartbreaking moments.

All that being said, there were some questionable moments in this film. For instance, it was farfetched that Lily only asked about Ryle's brother's death after they were already married and it was confusing why Lily didn't contact Atlas, even though she purposefully moved to the city he had told her he planned to settle in. 

The final scene between Ryle and Lily did leave me with a slightly uncomfortable feeling. With his final line, Ryle was given a redemption arc that felt undeserved. His stark turnaround from violent partner to thoughtful ex came across as underdeveloped. 

The film's handling of tougher themes will rightly draw some criticism. At times, Lily's view on the cycle of abuse is overly simplistic and the film glazes over some important elements that come into play in instances of domestic violence, like seeking out resources. 

But these issues aside, with depictions of domestic violence being a relative rarity in any mainstream movie, it shouldn't be underestimated just how much this sort of representation matters.

It Ends With Us is a touching movie and with a legion of CoHo fans on board, it is sure to be a blockbuster — likely signaling just the start of Colleen Hoover's transition from bestselling author to the pioneer of a whole new film franchise. 

If this post brings up any issues for you, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service. It doesn’t matter where you live, they will take your call and, if need be, refer you to a service closer to home.

Feature image: Sony.