Perth Voice Interactive

IF you have ever read US romance and young teen author Colleen Hoover, you would know that she writes beautiful but hard-hitting stories.

It Ends with Us is the unfolding of Lily Bloom’s life from her teenage years, through her first love with Atlas, a homeless boy, to the birth of her child and taking back her life. 

Blake Lively is perfect as Lily; her sense of style and individuality reminds me of her Gossip Girl character. 

Trying to move on from the trauma of her parents’ abusive relationship and follow her dreams, Lily begins a new life in Boston and opens her own floristry.

Enter Allysa (Jenny Slate) who walks through the door looking for a job and a sisterhood friendship develops. 

After returning from her fathers’ funeral, Lily is sitting reflectively on the edge of a rooftop when she spots Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni) storming out of the house, angry and knocking over a chair.

Once he sees Lily, he apologises and blames a difficult day, then dials up the charm.

Sensing a darker and stormier personality lurking behind the facade, Lily initially tries to resist falling under his spell. 

His non-committal attitude to relationships doesn’t help either, but being Allysa’s brother means he’s in her orbit more often and eventually his charms overcome her resistance. 

Intertwined through her love story with Ryle, is the teenage Lily meeting Atlas (Brandon Sklenar) squatting across the road from her house. 

Their unfolding love cannot escape the damage of her abusive father, which sees the end of this innocent love. 

That is, until she walks into his restaurant years later, accompanied by Ryle and sporting a bruise on her face. 

Atlas has never gotten over Lily, his first love and rescuer, and aware of what she has experience in her childhood, goes into protective mode. 

Given that domestic violence is finally a much-exposed concern and without telling the whole storyline, it is a worthy movie to see as Lily breaks the abuse cycle, moves away from Ryle and starts a new life with his daughter.

4/5 chickens

by PAULA HOLLAND