The Idea of You's ending spoilers follow
Prime Video's adaptation of The Idea of You gives fans exactly what they want.
The movie, starring Anne Hathaway and Red, White and Royal Blue's Nicholas Galitzine, rights a "wrong" for many readers who found themselves disappointed with the conclusion of Robinne Lee's 2017 book.
The story follows Solène, a 40-year-old single mum who meets 24-year-old boyband star Hayes Campbell while chaperoning her daughter at Coachella. Sparks fly from the start after they share a meet-cute in his trailer, so shortly after, he shows up unannounced at her art gallery in LA.
They both engage in a passionate relationship, but Hayes' global fame starts to severely affect Solène and everybody around her. At the end of the day, the reactions to the age gap between them are not as damaging as the paparazzi and fans at her door. Is there a future for them?
This Harry Styles fanfic story is now out on Prime Video, so we're taking a deep dive into the ending, which differs from the book.
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The Idea of You ending makes a major change to the book
In the heartbreaking finale of Robinne Lee's book, Solène decides to break up with Hayes.
It's not the first time she's taken a step back from their relationship, but this time feels for good. Her decision comes after she realises her teenage daughter Izzy (played in the movie by Ella Rubin) is suffering the effects of her choices at school and is forced to live amidst a constant storm of camera flashes.
Solène's prior doubts were about the much-discussed age gap and her own insecurities, which she got over eventually. But this time her determination is stronger because she is protecting her daughter.
In the final lines of the book, Solène reveals Hayes called and texted her multiple times for months after the breakup, even when she never answered. One day, the messages stopped coming, and whatever there was between them quietly died.
Thankfully, the readers' devastation over that ending is something the movie's viewers will never have to experience.
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The movie features the final breakup between Solène and Hayes, but before they part ways they promise something to each other – they will be reunited in five years, unless one of them finds happiness somewhere else in the meantime.
This pact was probably a way of softening the blow of their separation by leaving the door open for a future together. It was also Solène's way to let Hayes build his music career and live a little before considering a serious relationship with her. She probably thought she would never see him again. Five years is a long time.
Jump to five years later.
Izzy is attending university in Chicago, Hayes has managed to transform his boyband fame into a successful solo music career, and Solène is still selling beautiful artwork in her Silver Lake gallery.
One night, Solène watches an interview on TV with Hayes on The Graham Norton Show. He reveals he is coming to LA soon, and he's looking forward to meeting a special person. The fact that Solène doesn't instantly think he's talking about her is absolutely baffling. Girl, keep up!
Not long after that, she is working at her office when a client comes in. She recognises that deep male voice and British accent. Rushing to the entrance, Solène comes face to face with Hayes, who is now looking more grown-up. (Nothing screams adulthood like a patchy beard.)
The movie ends with Solène's bright smile as the two lovebirds get a new opportunity at happiness.
Robinne Lee, author of the book, opened up to EW about this change. "It's America — Hollywood's going to do what they're going to do, and they're going to throw a happy ending on everything," she said.
"I don't know why. You hope they'll keep to what you've written because it meant something to you, but you also have to think about the box office and viewers and what their audience is going to want to see. Even though there's obviously a huge overlap between readers and movie viewers, I think when you are gearing something towards a movie audience, it's a slightly different fanbase, and maybe American viewers are not ready for [a sad ending]."
Lee explained that the happy ending is not the story she wanted to tell, which separates the book from its movie adaptation.
"I wanted to make a point about how, as women, we put others' happiness before our own. She chose her daughter before Hayes, and she was also very aware that she was disappointing her best friend, Lulit, her business partner and the co-owner of her gallery, which was suffering from the Hayes relationship. She had to put those other things first. It would've been lovely if she could have balanced all three, but at that point in time, she couldn't," she argued.
Director Michael Showalter also talked about this major departure from the book.
"I think, for me, it was more just as the filmmaker, and as a fan of romantic comedy and romantic movies, this felt like the kind of movie where we wanted to give the audience a hopeful ending," he told RadioTimes.com.
"And so, we certainly could have ended the movie in a different way. But for this story, we felt like a more uplifting ending was what would be most satisfying for our audience. And ultimately, the audience is what matters most when making a movie like this."
The Idea of You is now available on Prime Video.
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Mireia (she/her) has been working as a movie and TV journalist for over eight years. Based in the UK, she is a former deputy movies editor at Digital Spy, and previously worked for the Spanish magazine Fotogramas. Mireia's work has been published in other outlets such as Esquire and Elle in Spain, and WeLoveCinema and GamesRadar+ in the UK. She is also a published author, having written the essay Biblioteca Studio Ghibli: Nicky, la aprendiz de bruja about Hayao Miyazaki's Kiki's Delivery Service.
During her years as a freelance journalist and film critic, Mireia has covered festivals around the world and has interviewed high-profile talents such as Kristen Stewart, Ryan Gosling, Jake Gyllenhaal and many more. She's also taken part in juries such as the FIPRESCI jury at Venice Film Festival and the short film jury at Kingston International Film Festival in London. LinkedIn
