Jakarta. American romantic drama “It Ends with Us” is now playing in Indonesian theaters, but the movie is no heart-fluttering romance as it tries to tackle the heavy theme of domestic abuse. 

“It Ends with Us” is a movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel of the same name. Justin Baldoni directed the film and also starred in the movie as the abusive significant other Ryle Kincaid. 

The story follows Lily Bloom (Blake Lively), a woman who tries to overcome her traumatic past. Lily grows up seeing her mother abused by her father. Atlas Corrigan -- Lily’s first love -- almost dies at the hands of the dad after the man discovers the teens’ relationship. Fast forward to now, Lily tries to start a new chapter in life after her father’s death by opening up a flower shop in Boston. She eventually marries charming neurosurgeon Ryle who turns out to be a quick-tempered man. Lily accidentally encounters high school sweetheart Atlas (Brandon Sklenar), further complicating her relationship with Ryle.

The 130-minute “It Ends with Us” often switches from the present time to Lily’s flashbacks. The story is told from Lily’s perspective, and the movie tries to put the audience in her shoes. 

“It Ends with Us” has several assault episodes with Ryle slapping Lily in a cooking accident becoming his first on-screen abuse.

While the audience can tell the other episodes are domestic abuse, the cooking scene starts off as a gray area. The film does not clearly show what exactly happened in the kitchen at first. The editing choices, including its camera angles, have made everything almost a blur, even convincing the audience --just like Lily-- into thinking that the slap was a mere accident. It is only until near the end of the movie that “It Ends with Us” reveals what actually happened in the kitchen. The editing choices give the audience a feel of how people oftentimes do not realize that they are being abused. It also amplifies Lily’s denial that she is trapped in an abusive relationship just like her mother.

As for the acting, the main stars Lively and Baldoni deliver a quite solid performance.

“It Ends with Us” has no choice but to pull off a plausible young-to-old casting as a large part of the story takes place in Lily’s flashbacks. Luckily, the movie has Isabella Ferrer as the younger version of Lily, who looks identical to the adult self.

In the acoustic department, “It Ends with Us” has a playlist full of pop artists, notably Taylor Swift’s “My Tears Ricochet” and Birdy’s “Skinny Love”, to set the emotional tone. Although the song selection and placement sometimes can give off a soap opera feel to the movie.

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