It Ends With Us (15)
Directed by Justin Baldoni
★★★

 
ACTOR turned director Justin Baldoni brings Colleen Hoover’s best-selling book to the big screen. It stars Blake Lively, but it is difficult to reconcile what is a romantic drama with the underlying theme of domestic abuse.
 
While the film is pretty much a faithful adaptation by Christy Hall of Hoover’s much-loved work (with a few changes) it is the tone which is difficult to get your head round, just like in the book. It starts off as a glossy romantic drama before it switches gears, turning dark and violent, but set within a sleek and stylish backdrop full of flashbacks. 
 
Lively is captivating as Lily Bloom who has moved to Boston to open her dream flower shop. She meets and falls for a charismatic neurosurgeon, Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni). However as their relationship develops he begins to manifest anger issues reminiscent of her dad (a wasted Kevin McKidd) who then took it out on her mother (Amy Morton). Things come to a head when her first love Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar) unexpectedly comes back into her life. 
 
Its great virtue as a film, however, is to portray domestic violence in a realistic way. How women are made to second guess themselves. The shock and the horror of it as Lily attempts to excuse Ryle’s behaviour, and turning into her mum which she promised never to do. Lively gives a standout performance along with Baldoni while Jenny Slate provides the light relief as her best friend and sister-in-law. 
 
The question shouldn’t be why did she stay in an abusive relationship, but why men do the harm. 

In cinemas August 9.