*Contains spoilers
It Ends With Us is the film that everybody is talking about right now. Based on the best-selling novel by Colleen Hoover, it stars Blake Lively in the lead role of Lily Bloom, a florist in Boston, who falls in love with Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni), a complicated neurosurgeon.
But, their whirlwind romance quickly takes a darker turn when Ryle becomes physically abusive. Viewers soon learn that Lily vowed to never be a victim after it’s revealed that her mother was subjected to domestic abuse by her father when she was growing up. During this time, Lily confided in one person about her home life: her high school sweetheart, Atlas, who is played by Brandon Sklenar as an adult.
Fast forward to adulthood, Lily and Atlas unexpectedly bump into each other, and he immediately recognises that his childhood sweetheart is experiencing the same abuse her mother did. Atlas begs Lily to leave Ryle, who tries to convince him – and herself – that her partner is a good person deep down, and that the acts of violence don’t truly represent him.
Then, further down the line, Ryle sexually assaults Lily. The last straw for Lily, she finally realises she has to get out, and contacts Atlas for help. He takes her to the hospital, only for them to find out Lily fell pregnant as a result of the attack. Deciding to keep the baby, viewers later see Ryle meeting his daughter, Emerson, for the first time, before Lily boldly asks him for a divorce.
But, just like in any major film adaptation, parts of the plot get tweaked, changed, and cut – and this couldn’t be any truer in It Ends With Us. In the novel, readers see Lily giving Ryle another chance to be a good person by allowing him to see their daughter and co-parent together. However, in the film, she cuts Ryle off completely and tells Atlas a few years later that it’s “just the two” of them.
Baldoni, who plays Ryle but also directed the film explained this decision in an interview with The Wrap. He said: “In the original draft, we had a scene in the epilogue where we see Ryle dropping off their child to Lily, and they have a short conversation. It was written in a way that showed that they’ve overcome a lot over the last two years.”
But Baldoni soon stated that he “wasn’t fully comfortable with it,” and neither was No More, the nonprofit advocacy group “dedicated to ending domestic and sexual violence by increasing awareness, inspiring action, and fueling culture change” who the film struck up a consulting partnership with.
The actor continued: “We were trying to find a way to make it work, to honour the book, but too much had to be done in such a short window to explain how they could possibly be co-parenting.”
So, Baldoni explained that the “best ending for Ryle was to look at his wife and kid, and the life that he could have had, the life that he blew up, and to walk out the door and for us not see him again.”
“That was, for me, what felt the best in adapting the book and turning into a film is to say bye to him there,” he concluded.
It Ends with us is in cinemas now.
Sophie Williams is a Freelance Journalist and Copywriter, covering everything from Fashion to Entertainment to music, Lifestyle and Features. She has interviewed a range of musical artists and authors including Alyssa Edwards, Courtney Barnett, Confidence Man, The Vaccines, Loyle Carner, Gabrielle, and John Niven, and has written for publications like Metro, Reader’s Digest, ITV’s Woo! and Vice’s NBGA. She is also working on a book for HarperCollins about Taylor Swift, due to be published in 2024. Â