Content warning: This article contains discussions of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s film “It Ends With Us,” based on Colleen Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel, became a huge box office sensation when it hits theaters in August 2024. It’s Also been the source of serious drama behind the scenes, which apparently got out of hand (and resulted in a few lawsuits), but I’ll get to that later. For the uninitiated, what is “It Ends With Us” about? Is it suitable for young audiences? (No, it’s not; I’ll get to that shortly, too.)

The story focuses on Lily Blossom Bloom (Lively), a particularly aptly named young woman who dreams of opening a flower shop in Boston and meets angry neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni, who also directed the film) one night while let her wander. a random rooftop in the capital of Massachusetts. Despite Lily’s initial hesitation, she and Ryle hit it off quite well and began a romantic relationship, only for everything to go haywire after Ryle had a cooking accident the night before an extremely important operation. From there, Lily must decide if she’s ready to stick it out with Ryle…or if she wants to reconnect with her childhood sweetheart Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar), who now runs a bustling restaurant in Boston. So why isn’t the movie fun for the whole family? In fact, lots of reasons!

Let’s review some of the many, a lot reasons why “It Ends With Us” is not a good watch for younger viewers. If you’re at all familiar with the source material — or anything Colleen Hoover has ever written — you know that her novels deal with decidedly adult themes, and “It Ends With Us” certainly fits that mold.

There are basic profanities – not the f-word but a few “whores”, “assholes” and s-words are scattered throughout the film – but its depiction of both sex and domestic violence are both things which keep the film firmly at a PG-13 rating. Ryle and Lily’s relationship is, at first, extremely torrid. Ryle basically begs Lily to sleep with him, and although she is hesitant at first, she eventually shows up to Ryle’s sister Allysa’s (Jenny Slate) birthday party in an incredibly provocative outfit meant to capture attention. from Ryle, and their sexual relationship more or less begins. immediately. We also see young Lily, played by newcomer Isabela Ferrer, sleeping with Atlas when she was a teenager (“Colony” star Alex Neustaedter), and the scene that follows is particularly poignant… because Lily’s abusive father , Andrew (Kevin McKidd), finds them sleeping together and beats Atlas so severely that the boy ends up hospitalized.

As an adult, Lily realizes she is part of the cycle of abuse after Ryle gets angry and hits her for the first time (he takes a hot pan off the stove without a glove and burns his face). hand; after Lily impulsively laughs and Ryle slaps her across the face), and the film’s dark turn halfway through certainly contributes to its rating. To be honest, the sex scenes in “It Ends With Us” are rather insignificant compared to the depictions of domestic violence.

The first two times Ryle physically abuses Lily in “It Ends With Us” has the camera playing a trick on both the audience and, by extension, Lily herself. After Ryle punches Lily while she makes fun of him burning her hand, it initially seems like a complete accident, and later Ryle has another outburst about Atlas’ previous connection and Lily. When Ryle and Lily (unintentionally) go to Atlas’ Root restaurant, Ryle realizes that Atlas and Lily know each other and physically attacks Atlas; later, when Ryle finds a piece of paper with Atlas’s phone number hidden in Lily’s phone case, the two argue and she heads up the stairs of her apartment building to leave. Although it appears that Lily fell down the stairs alone – based on Ryle’s profuse apologies and the fact that he quickly takes care of her after she is injured – the truth emerges later, at know that Ryle supposed to hurt him both times.

Ryle’s worst attack on Lily concerns, once again, Atlas. When Root is featured in a magazine and the interview states that the restaurant is in honor of a girl Atlas once loved, which clearly means Lily, Ryle forces himself on Lily and almost sexually assaults her before that she does not run away; when she runs straight to Atlas, he takes her to the hospital. That’s when Lily realizes she’s pregnant, which pushes her to put some serious distance between herself and Ryle. Although he begs her to return, Lily remains steadfast throughout the pregnancy and, immediately after the birth of their daughter, tells Ryle she wants a divorce. This is where the title comes in: the cycle of abuse ends with Lily and her daughter Emerson.

Even though “It Ends With Us” helped save the box office in 2024the fact is that we will not have a sequel, especially considering that the two stars are currently involved in multiple lawsuits against each other. (In short, Blake Lively filed a civil lawsuit in California against Justin Baldoni, alleging he sexually harassed her and created a hostile work environment while filming “It Ends With Us,” Baldoni then sued the New York Times for its coverage of the complaint Lively subsequently sued Baldoni in federal court; as of this writing, nothing has been settled.)

There is, however, a written sequel to “It Ends With Us”; in 2022, Colleen Hoover released “It Starts With Us”, which divides its focus between Lily and Atlas as they attempt to move forward in their relationship despite near-constant obstacles. Despite her history of violence, Lily attempts to co-parent with Ryle, an endeavor that is already not going well and is further complicated by Atlas’ presence in Lily’s life. Meanwhile, Atlas, who dealt with an abusive mother, discovers that his younger brother Josh has run away from home and taken the boy in. If “It starts with us” has already been adapted for the cinema, it is not excluded that Lively herself could take over as director …but given that Baldoni and Lively will likely only appear in the same location in a courtroom, we can probably rule out the existence of a film adaptation of “It Starts With Us.”

“It Ends With Us” is rated PG-13 and is now available to stream on Netflix.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources and support at their website.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the National Rape, Abuse and Incest Network website or contact the RAINN National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).