to each her own movie review

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To each, her own.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 1 Review
• Kids Say 0 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Overloaded farce about sexual orientation; language, sex.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that To Each, Her Own is a French comedy with subtitles about a young professional woman in a long-term relationship with another woman. Still closeted to her family and finding herself attracted to a man, she's confused and despairing. A series of farcical adventures help her come to…

Why Age 16+?

Story is about sexuality and sexual orientation. Characters kiss, disrobe (breas

Subtitled profanity: "f--k, "s--t," "crap," "piss," "screwing," "hell," t-ts." I

Characters drink alcohol throughout; drunkenness in one sequence. Marijuana is s

Two scuffles that are almost immediately stopped.

Any Positive Content?

Sexuality and sexual preference can be confusing. Fight bigotry. Stand up for yo

Lead character negotiates a confusing world, not always successfully; she learns

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Story is about sexuality and sexual orientation. Characters kiss, disrobe (breasts are shown), engage in foreplay. Implied oral sex. Conversations about sex, sexual identity. Sexy dancing and glimpses of sexy underwear.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Subtitled profanity: "f--k, "s--t," "crap," "piss," "screwing," "hell," t-ts." Insults: "f---ing dyke," "homosexuality is a disease," "f---ing closet het."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Characters drink alcohol throughout; drunkenness in one sequence. Marijuana is smoked.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Sexuality and sexual preference can be confusing. Fight bigotry. Stand up for your right to be yourself.

Positive Role Models

Lead character negotiates a confusing world, not always successfully; she learns to be forthright and confident. Stereotypes: overbearing parents (including one shrewish and racist Jewish mother and a racist Senegalese aunt), ineffectual dad, LGBTQ folks, racists, homophobes.

Parents need to know that To Each, Her Own is a French comedy with subtitles about a young professional woman in a long-term relationship with another woman. Still closeted to her family and finding herself attracted to a man, she's confused and despairing. A series of farcical adventures help her come to terms with both her sexual orientation and her role as a woman independent from the traditions that have been thrust upon her. Sexual situations occur throughout the film. Characters kiss, disrobe (breasts are exposed), and engage in implied oral sex and off-camera sexual intercourse. Sex moves the central thread of the story. Racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, and overbearing parents fully impact the romantic relationships as well. Audiences can expect multiple stereotypical characters and behavior (e.g., gays, lesbians, a large Jewish family, online dating). Swearing and obscenities are used, including "f--k," "s--t," "piss," "crap," "screw," and "dyke." Alcohol is consumed in numerous scenes; in one, the heroine gets drunk. Young adults roll joints and smoke marijuana. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (1)

Based on 1 parent review

Very unusual romcom

What's the story.

Simone Benloulou (Sarah Stern) is in love with Claire (Julia Piaton) in TO EACH, HER OWN. They have a long-term relationship and have built a nice life together. Unfortunately, Simone hasn't had the courage to tell her observant Jewish family about either her sexual orientation or Claire. Because of that, her overbearing mother (Caroline Jacob) never stops nagging her about finding "the one," providing he's Jewish and suitable. Simone's inaction is getting her down, and she feels more confused and distracted when she finds herself attracted to Wali (Jean-Christophe Folly), a talented Senegalese chef. Is she a lesbian? Is she "bi"? A coward? She's further challenged by events that cause her to doubt herself even more severely: an approaching family wedding, an inevitable "fix-up" by her brother, a romantic encounter with Wali, and finally Claire's discovery of Simone's true state of mind.

Is It Any Good?

Too many themes, characters, and storylines distract from the emotional journey of the heroine until nothing is left but a spirited pace, some funny moments, and a shallow resolution. There are many caricatures -- gays, lesbians, Jewish families, newly assimilated African citizens, arrogant business types -- in To Each, Her Own. That , along with unabashedly racist and homophobic situations that are meant to be funny but often just feel grating, seems to have defeated what might have been an enjoyable film. As it is, it's hard to keep track of the couple who met online, the couple who are about to be married, the gay couple struggling for acceptance, let alone the adventures of Simone and Claire ... and Wali. Prepare to be confused, especially with the sudden ending, which comes out of left field.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the value of watching movies from non-English-speaking cultures. What new information about today's France and its people did you take away from To Each, Her Own ? Do such experiences reinforce your feelings about the commonality of the human condition? In what ways?

How could communication skills have helped Sarah negotiate her journey? Why is it important to develop solid communication skills?

Is it possible that when filmmakers include multiple storylines and characters, both the events and the people involved are less complex and interesting? Which characters, if any, are stereotypes in this movie?

Movie Details

• On DVD or streaming : June 24, 2018
• Cast : Sarah Stern , Julia Piaton , Jean-Christophe Folly
• Director : Myriam Aziza
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Black actors
• Studio : Netflix
• Genre : Comedy
• Topics : Friendship
• Run time : 95 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : February 18, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

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Stream It or Skip It: ‘To Each Her Own’ on Netflix Is A Bisexual Farce Set in France

Where to Stream:

• To Each, Her Own (2018)

Netflix’s latest foreign title,  To Each, Her Own , takes the form of a farcical comedy of sex and sexuality among a trio of modern Parisians. A Jewish lesbian, her live-in girlfriend, and the enticing Senegalese man she meets and can’t get out of her head. It’s a modern story of hangups and declarations, but is it worth a stream?

TO EACH HER OWN : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Simone (Sarah Stern) comes from a conservative Jewish family in Paris. She doesn’t practice, which causes enough of a rift in her family that she has kept secret the other un-conservative part of her life: her wife, Claire (Julia Piaton). Simone’s life gets thrown for a loop when she meets a handsome Senegalese man named Wali who can cook, and they end up making out on a dance floor. Was this a one-time thing?  Does this prove her parents right? Wali is still not the good Jewish man her parents have in mind for her. The secrets start piling up in a comedic farce that touches on sexuality, religion, and race from many odd angles.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: The whole movie maintains a solidly sitcom vibe, and the English overdubbing gives the entire movie a kind of B-grade madcap flair even when there are real emotions at stake. It’s a flimsy enough romantic comedy that it brings to mind the kind of micro-release gay rom-coms of the 1990s . It doesn’t match the quality of a  Kissing Jessica Stein , but it’s in the same ballpark.

• Stream It Or Skip It

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Performance Worth Watching:  Sarah Stern shoulders a lot in the lead role as Simone. She keeps up distinct relationships with a lot of characters and shows the code-switching that goes on for closeted gay people. She’s different versions of herself with her parents, her brothers, her girlfriend, and with Wali. This was a movie that I kept expecting to go in certain directions, and when it didn’t, I bought it mostly due to Stern’s performance.

Memorable Dialogue:  There are a few lines that linger in the memory. When Wali takes Simone home to meet his friends and cousins, his domineering Auntie shows up as well (and gives Simone one hell of a side eye). She also shouts, “See ya later, druggies!” at the young men for deliquently smoking up in her apartment. That’s pretty funny.

When Simone’s deception is uncovered — in a rather sitcommy development, where the guy she was supposed to go on a date with (an investor in her brother’s J-Date-esque app) shows up at a family gathering, finds out that it was Simone’s friend and not her who went on the date with him, and on top of that learns Simone’s friend wasn’t even Jewish — her brother can only lament, “You’ll destroy my dating site!” Eyes on the prize.

And finally, as the film reaches its climax, Simone comes clean, to her parents and to herself: “That’s Claire, she’s my wife; and that’s Wali, he’s my lover.” Go ahead, bisexuality!

Single Best Shot:  Simone and Wali spend time together but, after she tells him that she’s got a girlfriend, they want to keep things on a friendship level. The cut to this shot. of the two of them asleep with a row of barrier pillows between them, is a solid visual gag.

Our Take:  I’ll say this: in contrast to Netflix’s  Alex Strangelove , which walks up to the precipice of a reasonable and enlightening turn into bisexual visibility, only to step back and move in a more expected direction,  To Each, Her Own actually pulls that trigger and allows its story to recognize the “B” in LGBT. The whys, wherefores, and politics of why lesbian stories are the only ones where bisexuality is allowed to assert itself is a question for another day. For now, props to the film for going there, even if “there” is an overly literal ride into the sunset for the film’s final shot. The rest of the movie feels cartoonish and under-developed. It’s halfway to a good movie, which is worth something, but it’s ultimately a good conclusion in search of anything really substantial to lead up to it. The comedy isn’t all that funny and the romance isn’t all that romantic. An admirable swing, but a miss.

Our Call:  Skip It.

Stream  To Each, Her Own on Netflix

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Home » Movies

To Each, Her Own (Les Goûts Et Les Coloeurs) Review

A Netflix original comedy-drama, To Each, Her Own is about a Jewish woman in Paris, dealing with relationships and prejudices; her own, and other people’s. A personal and entertaining film by Myriam Aziza.

Whilst I was watching Netflix Original Film To Each, Her Own / Les Goûts Et Les Coloeurs a lot went through my mind. For many (or most?) non-straight people, it can be difficult – to say the least – to tell parents about their sexuality.  Even those who don’t find it difficult usually expect it to be. The main character in Love, Simon is a prime example of this: his family is liberal and easygoing, but still treats it as a bit of an ordeal. When, at age nineteen, I told my fairly conservative parents I was bisexual, I had to dare myself to be honest with them: my Mum had to navigate the news with lots of questions, and my Dad didn’t want to know.

But that’s nothing compared to the angst Simone (Sarah Stern) faces about coming out to her parents in To Each, Her Own.  They are conservative Jews; not only that but they appear to have rejected her gay brother, and refuse to meet his civil partner. This theme of being yourself in the face of prejudice has many angles in this French film for Netflix, but the relationship with her parents (Catherine Jacob and Richard Berry) is where the story starts, and almost certainly where Simone’s caution about exposing herself came from.

In To Each, Her Own , Simone’s life gets suddenly more complicated when she finds herself unexpectedly attracted to a man, something which hadn’t happened for many years (at one point, she says she’d been lesbian since eleven). Not just a man, but a man who couldn’t have been more different: Wali (Jean-Christophe Folly) is a black Muslim Senegalese man from Marseille, the chef at a favorite restaurant. He is a very easygoing man, but his friends and family are not; his friends hold some anti-semitic views, which Simone had not come across much in person, and his aunt wants him to marry someone like him. Family pressure and prejudices are complex.

To Each, Her Own is about the complexity of self-discovery, within that atmosphere of bigotry from all directions. That’s hardly going to make things easy! It might have been a little easier if Simone had felt able to talk to her girlfriend, Claire. But, like Simone, the script doesn’t give Claire as much attention as she deserves. That’s probably realistic, mind you. People can get self-centered when trying to figure out themselves.

The writing and acting make the whole thing fairly realistic; plot and characters alike. It might seem unlikely at first, that contrast of individuals I described, but Paris is a true melting pot. It is believable that people like Wali and Simone would meet; and if they could get past the intolerance their communities surround them with, there is no reason why they couldn’t be friends. I found the resolution of the story to be a little unrealistic, mind you, but this was only because of Claire’s point of view being unexplored. But more on the ending in a bit.

I must say the genre is a little difficult to define. Although To Each, Her Own is categorized as a comedy, it isn’t a more traditional French sex comedy or romantic comedy; there’s hardly any sex, and there is more obvious romance amongst the side characters than the main ones. There are some lovely scenes that could have been written as farce, but Aziza doesn’t direct them as farce. What we have here is a study of serious topics (identity and prejudice) but presented lightly and humorously. So it’s comedy as much as Me, Earl and the Dying Girl was.

Slight spoilers from here on…

The title of the Netflix film is interesting. When I came out to my Dad, he told me, “Do what you like, just don’t upset your mother.” The phrase To Each, Her Own (or their own, more traditionally) gives me the same sense of reluctant acceptance; to me, it kind of means people have all sorts of preferences, but I’m not obliged to like them or understand them. I don’t think any of the characters expressed that attitude. The French title, which means “colours and tastes” does more closely reflect the main character, I think; especially in her approach to having broad preferences without a specific label.

And here I must declare my own bias and tell you about another theme of To Each, Her Own : bisexuality. I started watching it half expecting that the man Simone connected with would try to cure or convert her, and so I was on guard. Very happy that Wali didn’t do that, but I am not at all happy at Simone’s aversion to the label “bisexual”. There is a revealing moment when she tells Claire she can still be lesbian despite attraction to a man, and likens it to being Jewish even though she eats pork: she can be a lesbian without being a “pure” lesbian. Granted, that’s near the beginning of her journey, but I would have very much liked to see her reconsider the label later, especially considering the ending. It is incredibly rare to see people on screen being comfortable calling themselves bi, and I firmly believe that representation needed in media includes characters being able to say the words for their sexual orientation, not just presenting it. We see her own aversion to it, and we also see some fairly standard reactions and myths played out by others.

And the ending. I’m sorry, but despite having liked the film overall – especially the well-drawn characters – it wouldn’t surprise me if the ending causes the film to be dismissed by bisexual (and poly) commentators, for two reasons. Firstly, it comes across as though a bisexual person requires two different partners at a time: most don’t. Secondly, modern bisexual people would not simply impose their preferences on their relationships but agree to a way to conduct things that would suit all concerned. I know one film cannot be expected to represent bisexuality on screen, but until there are more films with bisexual themes and characters, single films can create impressions in their viewers, just as Bound gave the impression that girl-girl relationships require one butch and one femme. And unfortunately, it is realistic that someone navigating bisexuality for the first time – like Simone – might have these misconceptions herself too.

Spoilers over.

Please do watch Netflix Original  To Each, Her Own . It’s great to have more well-written characters, believable stories with queer themes. But please remember my caveat: this is one woman’s journey with self-discovery (which probably has farther to go) and does not reflect a typical modern bisexual experience.

Article by Alix Turner

Alix joined Ready Steady Cut back in 2017, bringing their love for horror movies and nasty gory films. Unsurprisingly, they are Rotten Tomatoes Approved, bringing vast experience in film critiquing. You will likely see Alix enjoying a bloody horror movie or attending a genre festival.

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To Each Her Own

Details: 2008, Rest of the world, 109 mins

Direction: Heather Tobin

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8 Best Jewish Movies on Netflix (August 2024)

Whether exploring the profound impact of historical events, the dynamics of conservative family life, or the pursuit of personal fulfillment, Jewish cinema offers a variety of tales spread across time. Such works not only offer a window into a unique culture but also open the doors to powerful narratives of human resilience. From deeply emotional documentaries to light-hearted comedies, here are the best films on Netflix that capture various aspects of Jewish culture and identity.

8. To Each, Her Own (2018)

Originally titled ‘Les goûts et les couleurs,’ the French comedy revolves around Simone, who hails from a conservative Jewish family and is secretly attracted to women. Just as she musters the courage to come out to her family, Simone finds herself falling for a man. Directed by Myriam Aziza, the film is highlighted by its sharp humor and excellent cinematography. The narrative explores relatively unique themes regarding sexual identity, family, and prejudice in an entertaining manner. The movie can be watched here .

7. The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch (2018)

Directed by Michael Steiner, ‘The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch’ follows the titular character as he pushes the bounds of his strict Jewish upbringing in a hilarious coming-of-age comedy. Raised in an Orthodox Jewish household, Motti goes against his mother’s wishes and falls for his non-Jewish classmate, Laura, who wears jeans, drinks, and swears. As his disobedience is discovered, his mother tries to set him up with a traditional Jewish girl while Motti goes on his own adventure of self-discovery. The lighthearted film presents a fresh and relatable tale that may resonate with those growing up in religious and community-focused households. You can stream the movie here .

6. Image of Victory (2021)

Originally titled ‘Tmunat Hanitzahon,’ the Avi Nesher directorial is a historical drama that chronicles the true events of the battle of Kibbutz Nitzanim in 1948 from the perspective of an Egyptian journalist. Egyptian filmmaker Hassanin is tasked to document the Egyptian army’s image of victory over a small Jewish settlement. However, Hassanin begins to see the humanity in his so-called enemies, blurring the lines between friend and foe. Nesher’s direction carefully balances the personal and political, showing the impact of war on individuals from both sides while exploring its moral ambiguities. With historical footage of the time interspersed within, the docudrama recreates the landscapes and realities of the time to great effect, allowing us to peer into its prevalent chaos. The movie can be watched here .

5. One of Us (2017)

Co-directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, ‘One of Us’ is a documentary that offers an in-depth look at life within the Hasidic Jewish community and those who choose to walk away from its restrictive lifestyle. Transporting us to Brooklyn, New York, it follows three separate individuals as they start on their journeys of leaving their insular, strict religious community in search of personal freedom and self-discovery. Through their stories of rebellion, we are offered insight into the tremendous challenges they face integrating into a world they aren’t unprepared for. The eye-opening documentary shows the multi-faceted nature of their struggles, including their decisions’ emotional and social repercussions. The documentary can be watched here .

4. The Red Sea Diving Resort (2019)

Directed by Gideon Raff and inspired by real events, ‘ The Red Sea Diving Resort ’ centers on the efforts of Israel’s Mossad agents as they set up a fake hotel to smuggle Ethiopian Jewish refugees to save them from genocide in Sudan. In 1979, a Mossad team led by agent Ari Levinson (Chris Evans) faces enormous risks as they set up a fake tourist hotel that becomes the last resort for Jewish people facing persecution in Sudan. With its blend of espionage and historical drama, the film creates an enthralling story of courage, sacrifice, and resilience. The experience is elevated further with the knowledge that such an operation was actually carried out and saved countless lives in the persecuted community. You can stream the movie here .

3. You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023)

Directed by Sammi Cohen, ‘ You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah ’ is a heartwarming comedy that narrates a coming-of-age story with the backdrop of Jewish traditions. The plot revolves around Stacy Friedman and her family as her upcoming bat mitzvah becomes the epicenter of their efforts and high-school drama. While Stacy fights with her best friend over a popular boy, her father (Adam Sandler) humorously deals with his fair share of expectations. The film has garnered praise for its relatable perspective on teenage experiences and the universal struggles of fitting in. Sandler offers a delightful portrayal of Jewish family values and traditions, with his daughters and wife starring in the film. You can stream the movie here .

2. Woman in Gold (2015)

In the directorial hands of Simon Curtis, ‘Woman in Gold’ chronicles the true story of an elderly Jewish woman’s fights against the Austrian government to reclaim a family painting stolen by the Nazis during World War II. The painting, Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, holds deep personal significance for Maria, as it depicts her aunt and once hung in her childhood home in Vienna. Alongside her lawyer, Randy Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds), Maria embarks on a legal battle against the Austrian government to not only recover her family’s legacy but also attain some justice for the historical plundering of Jewish homes. Through its breathtaking locations and deeply personal story, the film engrosses us in Maria’s powerful and uplifting journey of reclaiming her heritage. The movie can be watched here .

1. The Last Days (1998)

Helmed by James Moll, ‘The Last Days’ is a poignant, Oscar-winning documentary that chronicles the harrowing experiences of five Hungarian Jews during the final year of the Holocaust. Despite losing the war to the Allies, Nazi Germany continued to expend tremendous resources towards the extermination of the Jewish population in 1994 Hungary. Through personal testimonies, archival footage, and the survivors’ return to the places that defined their suffering, we are transported back in time to bear witness to one of the Jewish community’s darkest chapters in history. With the retelling of tragic events, we also gain a small sense of the survivor’s strength of spirit and their celebration of life. You can stream the documentary here .

Read More: Best Historical Movies on Netflix

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French rom-com ‘To Each, Her Own’ has too many good ideas

The netflix indie bites off more than it can chew..

Eddie Strait

Posted on Jun 25, 2018     Updated on May 21, 2021, 12:43 pm CDT

Some movies are so thoroughly mediocre that you just want to yell at them to be better. That is the case with the French romantic comedy  To Each, Her Own . The story is bursting with ideas, so many ideas, in fact, that it could’ve been something great. Instead,  To Each, Her Own , much like its protagonist, wants it all. By trying to speak to so many ideas, the movie ends up saying very little. The ambition of director Myriam Aziza (who also co-wrote the script with Denyse Rodriguez-Tome) is admirable. However, her Netflix film badly needs someone who can rein in the unwieldy script.

To Each, Her Own  follows the story of Simone, played by Sarah Stern. She’s in a long-term relationship with Claire (Julia Piaton), but Simone has still not come out to her family. Her parents want Simone to settle down and start cranking out babies because they’re one-dimensional clichés. They’re also Jewish, but Simone isn’t practicing. Simone also strikes up a romance with Wali (Jean-Christophe Folly), a Senegalese man who is a chef. The two plan to open a restaurant until they hook up and complicate things. With a runtime under 95 minutes,  To Each, Her Own  bites off more than it can chew. And I haven’t even mentioned the farcical subplot where Simone sends a friend to take her place on a blind date.

The movie moves at a breathless pace and it comes at the expense of the characters.

To Each, Her Own  is at its best when it lets Simone have a quiet moment. In these instances, Stern’s face registers the confusion, anger, and sadness that Simone is experiencing. It feels real where so much of the movie feels contrived. It’s akin to watching someone who can’t juggle continuously add balls. Normally, I’m a major advocate for shorter movies. But this story needs either half of its storylines cut or it needs to be at least 30 minutes longer. The movie touches on race, religion, relationships, modern lifestyles versus traditional values, and I wish they received more than a cursory glance. It’s hard to be insightful when you barely scratch the surface.

Still not sure what to watch on Netflix? Here are our guides for the absolute best movies on Netflix , must-see Netflix original series and movies , and the comedy specials guaranteed to make you laugh.

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Eddie Strait is a member of the Austin Film Critic Association. His reviews focus primarily on streaming entertainment, with an emphasis on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and other on-demand services.

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To Each, Her Own

• The Daily Dot Eddie Strait By trying to speak to so many ideas, the movie ends up saying very little.
• Common Sense Media Renee Schonfeld Overloaded farce about sexual orientation; language, sex.
• Movie Nation Roger Moore A quaint collection of sexual, racial and cultural stereotypes and cliches packaged as a forward-thinking French romantic comedy.
• The Pink Lens Ben Turner Without a sympathetic centre to make you will for their success, the pulse of this Netflix piece never really gets above resting-rate.
• Decider Joe Reid The comedy isn't all that funny and the romance isn't all that romantic. An admirable swing, but a miss.

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To Each, Her Own (2018) Stream and Watch Online

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Looking to watch ' To Each, Her Own ' in the comfort of your own home? Finding a streaming service to buy, rent, download, or watch the Myriam Aziza-directed movie via subscription can be challenging, so we here at Moviefone want to do right by you. Read on for a listing of streaming and cable services - including rental, purchase, and subscription choices - along with the availability of 'To Each, Her Own' on each platform when they are available. Now, before we get into the various whats and wheres of how you can watch 'To Each, Her Own' right now, here are some finer points about the Incognita Films comedy flick. Released June 24th, 2018, 'To Each, Her Own' stars Sarah Stern , Jean-Christophe Folly , Julia Piaton , Richard Berry The movie has a runtime of about 1 hr 35 min, and received a user score of 50 (out of 100) on TMDb, which assembled reviews from 179 respected users. What, so now you want to know what the movie's about? Here's the plot: "Just as Simone works up the courage to tell her conservative Jewish family she's a lesbian, she finds herself attracted to a male Senegalese chef." 'To Each, Her Own' is currently available to rent, purchase, or stream via subscription on Netflix , and Netflix basic with Ads .

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To Each, Her Own movie review: Netflix's French romcom is a superficial take on sexuality, lacks heart

Despite all her noble efforts, Myriam Aziza’s French romantic comedy Les goûts et les couleurs (To Each, Her Own) is a superficial take on the subject of sexuality

Despite all her noble efforts, director Myriam Aziza’s latest French romantic comedy Les goûts et les couleurs ( To Each, Her Own ) is a rather superficial take on the subject of sexuality. And the reason behind this superficiality is that Aziza fails to transcend beyond the comic elements arising out of a young woman’s confusion around her own sexuality, not once diving deeper into the core of the problem – the more human side of the issue. The film can perhaps be best described as a set piece created only for the purpose of entertainment, with no perceptible motive of discussing a relevant and important issue. While there’s nothing wrong with a light-hearted take on a serious subject, but even as a comedy, the film struggles to evoke chuckles, barring maybe one scene towards the end. That it fails to do so is quite simply because of a poorly written script whose reach exceeds its grasp.

The protagonist of the film is a young bank employee named Simone Benloulou, working in Paris. Simone hails from an orthodox Jewish family, and her younger brother is openly gay. Her father has disowned his son for his sexuality, and this has posed a serious dilemma for Simone, who, as it turns out, is a closeted lesbian. Fearing that the news of not one, but two of their children being homosexuals would be too much for her parents to bear, she fails to come out, every time she wants to. Things get complicated when she proposes to her girlfriend Claire and she says yes. That very night, she meets a charming young Senegalese cook and in a drunken stupor, ends up sleeping with him.

The confusion does not stop there. Simone’s geeky elder brother has recently developed a dating site exclusively for Jews, and he hooks up his sister with a good-looking Jewish guy. Not interested in meeting this guy on a blind date, Simone sends a co-worker to meet the guy, asking her to introduce herself as Simone, and then to mess up the date, so that the matchmaking stops right there. To add to her woes, this co-worker ends up falling for the date, and refuses to reveal that she is not Simone – thus embarking upon a dangerously deceptive relationship with the unsuspecting man. Meanwhile, the Senegalese cook tells Simone that he wants to open a restaurant in partnership with her, and exhausted with her life as a banker, Simone finds herself accepting his proposal and helping him set the business up. Amidst all this, her girlfriend Claire finds out about her relationship with the cook, and all hell breaks loose.

It’s an overly complicated plot, unnecessarily extended without dwelling on the core issues at play. While there are some cleverly crafted sequences – for instance the one where Simone’s date comes home to meet her parents and is shocked to learn that he has been with someone else all this while – but none of these sequences have what was most required in a film of this nature – a heart. None of the scenes are tender, they do not stand out and more often than not, they fail to evoke any emotion whatsoever – which is a shame, because the film had great potential. The resolution of the film’s central crisis is downright illogical and senseless, and it seemed like the makers had finally run out of ideas and were forced to finish it off in a hurry.

There are some good performances in the film, but sadly, none of them pass muster and are all dragged down by a weak and convoluted script. Sarah Stern plays Simone, and the confusion of her protagonist rubs off onto her, because she seems to sleepwalk through most of the film like Lady Macbeth – wracked in guilt, and not knowing what to do, or what she wants. Julia Piaton is good as the more matured and sensible Claire, and she plays her part quite well. Jean Christophe Folly plays Simone’s male love interest, and is clearly the best actor in the entire film. And Arie Elmaleh does a fascinating job of playing Simone’s irritating and nosy elder brother David, who has clearly taken after the family’s matriarch. These are all interesting characters. Thrown together in the cauldron, however, these individual performances fail to hold together, because there’s not enough spice to bind them into a fine dish.

What the film can boast of, though, is fine editing and some brilliant camerawork. But in the absence of a believable story, they have very little to do. If only the film had tried to do less and tell a good story, it would have worked. Myriam Aziza’s film is a wasted opportunity. She would perhaps do well to remember that in cinema, the end does not justify the means, and that every little detail counts.

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'Bad Monkey's Natalie Martinez Had a Secret No One on Set Knew

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The Big Picture

• Collider's Steve Weintraub talks to Natalie Martinez about her experience shooting Bad Monkey .
• Martinez recommends watching End of Watch , praises Vince Vaughn's comedy skills and reveals she was pregnant while filming.
• Growing up in Miami influenced Martinez's approach to her character and wardrobe, and also connected her to the series' environmental message.

A detached limb, a desperate health inspector and a meddling monkey — this is the bizarre grocery list that cooks up the outrageously hilarious and occasionally dark series Bad Monkey . Set in sunny and humid Florida, the show follows police officer-turned-health-inspector Andrew Yancy ( Vince Vaughn ), who grasps at his former glory by attempting to solve a murder.

Natalie Martinez joins him as medical examiner Rosa Campesino, as they both get pulled into the world of corruption that impacts the surrounding environment. They are also accompanied by the following ensemble: Michelle Monaghan ( The Family Plan ), L. Scott Caldwell ( The Fugitive ), Rob Delaney ( Deadpool 2 ), Meredith Hagner ( Search Party ), Alex Moffat ( Saturday Night Live ), Ronald Peet ( First Reformed ), and Jodie Turner-Smith ( After Yang ).

In this interview, Collider's Steve Weintraub speaks to Martinez about her experience on set, where she dives into working alongside the comedic Vaughn, being able to collaborate with wardrobe choices, and how growing up in Miami impacted what she brought to her character. Martinez also reveals that she was pregnant on set and also praises the subtle environmental commentary in the series. Hear about her experience on Bad Monkey in the video above, or you have the option to also read the transcript below.

After getting bounced from the Miami PD, a former detective is demoted to restaurant inspector in the Florida Keys. An unusual new case might get him back in the department if he can get past a trove of oddballs, and one bad monkey.

COLLIDER: You've done a lot of stuff in your career. Besides Bad Monkey , if someone's never seen anything that you've done before, what is the first thing you'd like them to watch and why?

NATALIE MARTINEZ: I have a close tie. It's a little bit between Kingdom and End of Watch . A little bit between those two. I would say End of Watch . Even though I don't have that big of a role, I find it's such a great film and it was a fun one. It's a special one in my heart.

I did a set visit on that film and hung out all night in South Central with Jake [Gyllenhaal], Mike [Michael Peña], and David [Harbour] and watched them. It was pretty crazy. That was a guerrilla shoot.

MARTINEZ: That's why it's probably one of my favorites.

Vince Vaughn Is "His Own Genre"

"it was an honor to be a scene partner with him.".

Image via Apple TV

I'm watching you and Vince together and I swear half the shit he says he's just making up. That's what it feels like to me because I'm looking at your face, and you are genuinely laughing, as well as other people in the scenes. People are laughing for real. What is it like working with Vince because he is legitimately very, very funny?

MARTINEZ: He's brilliant. The way that that man's mind works, I'm in awe of him all the time. It was great working with Vince Vaughn and seeing him create these moments out of, I wouldn't say nowhere because we had such a great script written by Bill Lawrence, but whatever he brought just elevated it. That's one of the things Bill was super excited about, as well. They made a really good marriage because they would ping-pong each other. We would be on set and Vince would be going off, and then you'd hear somebody screaming something from the back to add in, and he just adds it right in. Doesn't skip a beat. It was definitely a fun experience because I haven't really done comedies like that before, [so] to be in this environment where there's this free flow of creativity coming out, it felt very liberating .

It's also Vince's delivery. The way he delivers lines is like, "How are you doing this?"

MARTINEZ: He definitely brings that Vince Vaughn to the character. I feel like he's his own genre. He has such a cult following. He's such a creative man that he sees things and just calls it for what it is, and he's so witty and so quick. It was an honor to be a scene partner with him.

Anything You Can Do, Natalie Martinez Can Do Pregnant

"that was definitely very interesting to manage.".

You see the shooting schedule in front of you. What day do you have circled in terms of, "I cannot wait to film this," and is there a day circled where you're thinking, "How the F are we gonna film this?"

MARTINEZ: I was excited every day to shoot. I can't really pinpoint one day or another. We had such a lovely crew. Being in Miami, my hometown, I got to be in different locations that brought memories to me because I grew up in Miami. With that and having such an amazing ensemble cast, I was just excited every day. It was a different journey. It was a different experience. The whole shoot was just a really good time. We just laughed and — I'll say it again — had a great time.

Were there any unique challenges for you making this show that were different than some of the other things you've worked on?

MARTINEZ: There was definitely a very unique challenge in shooting Bad Monkey that I had never experienced in any show: I was pregnant . That was definitely very interesting to manage. [On top of] the humidity and to be able to be at this fast pace, and we had some action scenes. That was probably one of the biggest things.

I had no idea.

MARTINEZ: [Laughs] Nobody did.

'Bad Monkey' Allowed Natalie Martinez to Bring Authenticity

One of the other things I always think when I speak to actors is the importance of the costumes you're wearing in bringing your character to life. Can you talk a little bit about working with your costume designer, Heidi [Higginbotham], in terms of what you were wearing and how you maybe collaborated to make yourself feel comfortable?

MARTINEZ: It was such a collaborative thing with wardrobe. One of the biggest things that I loved about this [series] is how amazing the environment was, that it was safe to collaborate, and [you were] actually encouraged to bring your own thing to the characters . Being from Miami, Cuban-American born and raised, I have a little bit of a sense of, "This is who I am." I got to wear the gold jewelry that I normally like. I have little charms on my necklace that are very common for my culture and where I'm from; I got to add that in. [Rosa] always had her necklaces and her bracelets. We also got to bring a lot of dialogue into it. I had my hair curly and natural because there's no other way to be in Miami because of the humidity. There was definitely a very collaborative effort to things. Being from there, I was able to kind of make her really her authentic self.

Miami is brutal every time I've been there in terms of the heat and humidity. I don't think people realize it.

MARTINEZ: It's pretty unique.

'Bad Monkey' Drops "Knowledge Bombs" About Conservation

One of the other things I really liked about the show is that there's a conservation message in the show without it ever being preachy, about the red lights and talking about nature. Can you touch on that a little bit because I really responded to that?

MARTINEZ: I thought it was a beautiful thing. The whole tone of the show, you can even see when Yancy is talking, there's always some kind of little truth or knowledge bomb — some little wisdom thrown in there, whether [it is] being happy or releasing anger or letting things go. You also have the conservative side of the turtles. A lot of people don't realize that. The majority of South Florida was in the Everglades, so we have a lot of natural things that we need to take care of there. We have crab seasons; we have lobster seasons; we have our Key deer; we have turtles as well. It's such a beautiful thing growing up. We would go to the beach for the hatching, watching them and helping them get to the ocean. It's just a part of who we are as Miami and South Floridians. You got to take care of your land. It's where you live . I thought it was very beautiful the wisdom bombs that they would throw and what you get out of that. I hope this is one of those shows that people not only have a good time watching but also learn a little bit about themselves, too.

The first two episodes of Bad Monkey are available to stream on Apple TV+ with subsequent episodes dropping every Wednesday.

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‘alien: romulus’ star breaks down her scary facehugger xenomorph scene.

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Partial poster for "Alien: Romulus" featuring Aileen Wu's character, Navarro, and a Facehugger ... [+] Xenomorph.

Alien: Romulus star Aileen Wu said only practical makeup effects went into her chilling Facehugger Xenomorph scenes in the film.

Opening in theaters nationwide on Friday, Alien: Romulus marks the seventh chapter in the sci-fi horror saga that kicked off with director Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic Alien . Scott produces Alien: Romulus while Fede Alvarez directs the film, which is set between the events of Alien and James Cameron’s 1986 sequel Aliens .

Alien: Romulus chronicles the harrowing plight of a group of young mining colonists who take a ship to an abandoned space outpost to scavenge the derelict vessel for cryo pods. Since the renegades plan to leave their dreary mining colony behind for a destination where sunlight is a luxury, they need the pods for a cryo sleep cycle since the planetary system they are traveling to is nine years away.

But when the group inadvertently unleashes hundreds of Xenomorphs after they board the outpost, they’re forced to come face-to-face with the most horrifying species in the galaxy.

Wu plays Navarro in Alien: Romulus , who becomes the first victim of the Xenomorph attack. The revelation of Navarro’s fate is hardly a plot spoiler for Alien: Romulus , though, since the attack of the character is shown in the film’s trailer.

In fact, the marketing department for Alien: Romulus goes so far as to reveal what happens to Navarro because her head is firmly in the grasp of a Facehugger Xenomorph on the film’s main theatrical poster, which is pictured above.

“They didn't tell me anything about the poster until the day it came out. Then I saw it and I was like, ‘This is a sick poster.’ I like the colors, the side profile, the hug—everything,” Wu told me, smiling, in a Zoom conversation on Tuesday.

Aileen Wu in "Alien: Romulus."

True, Wu’s face doesn’t make the poster, but she doesn’t mind. In fact, she prefers the Facehugger takes center stage in the image.

“Honestly, I love it that it's not my face. I feel like if it was my face on the poster it would be way too much pressure. I would prefer for the back of my shaved head to be taking over the world instead of the front of my face,” Wu said with a laugh, adding, “I don't love looking at my own face, as most actors are.”

While Alien: Romulus is set between Lt. Ellen Ripley’s (Sigourney Weaver) battles with the Xenomorphs in Alien and Aliens , the film contains several references to the other films in the sci-fi horror saga. Weaver, of course, famously shaved her head when she reprised Ripley in Alien 3 but Wu said her shaved head in the film wasn’t an homage but came about by mere happenstance.

“Fede [Alvarez] and I never explicitly talked about it. I've been rocking a shaved head since 2019 and sometimes I would let it grow out to this mullet-y length right now,” Wu said, pointing to her current hairdo. “But when I taped the audition, got the role and got to set, I had a mullet. In my headshots, though, I had a shaved head like I do in that film.”

Since Alvarez remembered Wu’s headshots, he decided early in the production that Navarro should have the shaved head look.

“Once we started doing makeup tests, Fede came into the makeup room one day and was like, ‘Shave it off, shave it all off like what she looks like in her headshots.’ I was like, ‘Great. I love it.’ I love having no hair. It's so easy,” Wu recalled.

“I personally think when we decided to shave it, it not only felt like a callback to Sigourney Weaver in the third one, but also Private Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein) in [ Aliens ],” Wu added. “I feel like my character is quite similar to Vasquez in a very hang-out with the boys, tomboyish sort of way.”

Going Face To Face With The Facehugger Xenomorphs

While Alien: Romulus gives Aileen Wu and her castmates some time to establish their characters in a subtle manner at the beginning of the film, all of their quiet time is thrown out of the window once the Xenomorphs arrive on the scene.

As the first victim of the alien attack in the film, Navarro is knocked around violently before a Facehugger Xenomorph firmly grasps her head. Since Fede Alvarez implemented the same sort of practical makeup and in-camera visual effects in Alien: Romulus that were featured in the original Alien films, it meant Wu would be fitted with a physical Facehugger that she estimated to weigh three to four pounds.

“It was pretty heavy. It was hollowed out a little bit, so the actual psychosexual organ part of the feature wasn't there so the piece could mold around your face,” Wu recalled.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 12: (L-R) Aileen Wu and Fede Álvarez attend the Alien: Romulus World ... [+] Premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California on August 12, 2024. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for 20th Century Studios)

While the production made Wu as comfortable as possible, she did note that being fitted with a Facehugger inhibited her breathing at times since the piece was secured tightly to her head with rubber bands. Overall, Wu estimated, the segment—from the time the Xenomorph attaches to her face to when she thrashes around as it chokes her to the moment the crew extracts it—took about two or three days to shoot.

“When we shot it, one take was at least three, four minutes and I had to match the [Facehugger] bladder's breathing,” Wu said. “The bladder’s breathing was real as well, since someone was off camera pumping it with a balloon pump.”

Wu said that Alvarez was very detail-oriented in the execution of the scene because, after four decades, he knows that Alien fans are paying very close attention to details when it comes to Facehugger and other Xenomorph attacks.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 12: (L-R) Spike Fearn, Isabela Merced and Aileen Wu attend the Alien: ... [+] Romulus World Premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California on August 12, 2024. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for 20th Century Studios)

“Fede was very adamant and precise and said, ‘Hey Aileen, the true fans are going to know how the organism works, and that it sustains your livelihood while it's doing its job,” Wu recalled. “So, when you breathe in, it's giving you air and when you breathe out, that's it taking air back out from you.’ Since I couldn’t see anything and only feel—and did so much thrashing around, violently, on the ground—it took a while to really nail that scene down.”

Wu’s demanding work didn’t end, however, when the crew removed the Facehugger Xenomorph from her face. They had to pull the apparatus of the creature from her mouth, too, and like the Facehugger, it was all done through practical makeup effects and some puppetry.

“So, while the hugger was coming off of my face—let's call it the tongue—the tongue part would be pushed forward as the hugger was leaving my face,” Wu revealed. So only two or three inches of it was in my mouth at a time but it had to match. There was quite a bit of coordinating involved.”

Spike Fearn, Aileen Wu, Fede Álvarez, Ridley Scott, Isabela Merced and Archie Renaux at the premiere ... [+] of "Alien: Romulus" held at TCL Chinese Theatre on August 12, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)

As physically demanding as the tongue scene was, Wu said she couldn’t have been any more thrilled about how it looked on screen.

“That scene, when I saw it in the theaters, I was like, ‘Yes!’ because it's just one shot—a tight profile shot,” Wu said. “While you're filming, you're like, ‘We either have the shot or we don't and we're not stopping until we get the f—king shot.’ I think we did at least 30 to 40 takes.”

Since Wu spent so much time working with Facehugger Xenomorphs on Alien: Romulus , it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that she’s okay if she never sees another one of them again. In fact, Wu said if she were offered to keep one of them as a souvenir from the production, she would have refused.

“I've had enough of the creatures. I spent plenty of time with them on set,” Wu said. “Even at the premiere, everybody was holding a Facehugger. I was like, ‘Get those things away from me! I don't want them anywhere near me!’”

Wu does admit, though, that she grew close enough to her Facehugger “co-stars” that she gave names to all of them.

“I named them Sam, Sammy, Samuel and Samantha,” Wu recalled with a laugh. “It was all some Sam variation, because I thought Sam was a nice gender-neutral name, since it has both male and female sex organs.”

So if Wu is refusing to take a Facehugger prop from the production, is there something else from Alien: Romulus or specifically, Navarro, that she’s interested in?

“I would take my character's boots,” Wu said, smiling. “She had these badass cowboy boots.”

Also starring Cailee Spaeny , David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced and Spike Fearn, Alien: Romulus opens in theaters on Friday.

This interview was edited for clarity.

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It Ends With Us Took a Controversial Approach to Domestic Violence. The Movie Doesn’t Shy From It.

It does make one key blink-and-you’ll-miss-it change..

On Friday morning, Sony announced that its Colleen Hoover adaptation It Ends With Us had done very well in previews , and that the movie’s opening weekend box office was looking so darn good it might even challenge the summer juggernaut Deadpool and Wolverine for the No. 1 spot. That would be a fun Barbenheimer -ish girls-against-boys story, elevated by the fact that the movies’ respective stars—Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds—are married. The promotional campaign for It Ends With Us has leaned into the female-ness of Hoover’s audience: The trailer for the film , which is a romantic drama about a woman who had an abusive father and who falls in love with a very handsome but (it turns out) abusive neurosurgeon, featured the song “My Tears Ricochet,” a real scorned-woman weeper by Lively’s friend Taylor Swift. Some theaters are showing the film as a “girls’ night out” promo .

Meanwhile, online, the cast members of It Ends With Us —Lively, who plays the story’s heroine, Lily Blossom Bloom; Jane the Virgin ’s hunk Justin Baldoni, who plays Lily’s abusive husband, Ryle Kincaid, and directed the film; Jenny Slate, who plays Lily’s best friend, Allysa; and Brandon Sklenar, who plays her first love, Atlas Corrigan—are seemingly either ginning up some kind of fake drama for PR purposes or are actually mad at one another over creative differences that popped up during the production and promotion of the movie. ( Nobody really knows , which means that if it’s fake, the gambit is going perfectly.)

All of this momentum means a lot of unsuspecting people are about to get CoHo’d. The frankly baffled tenor of some early reviews of the It Ends With Us movie shows how firmly women’s culture is still siloed off from the mainstream. Anyone who’s at all familiar with Colleen Hoover would already know that consuming her books puts you at serious risk of whiplash. And there are a lot of us who are familiar with Colleen Hoover: The most popular author of the 2020s, she’s sold 50 million copies worldwide . It Ends With Us is the most popular of them all, the bestselling novel of both 2022 and 2023 — despite the fact it came out in 2016. (Even now in 2024, it’s back atop this week’s New York Times bestseller list.)

How did Hoover become so dominant? As Laura Miller wrote for Slate in 2022 , the “queen of BookTok” publishes across a huge range of genres, interspersing ample clichés and clunky inventions (“Lily Blossom Bloom”? “Atlas Corrigan”?) with stories of trauma that are so stark and upsetting you read the page twice to make sure you got it right. (Hoover used to be a social worker and had an abusive father, much like Lily Bloom.) Reading a CoHo (as her fans, the CoHorts, call her) is not like cracking a more traditionally constructed romance novel, where you know that a happily ever after is on the way. Colleen Hoover might do almost anything to you, so you better be ready.

The herky-jerky approach of Hoover’s books has led to some confusion in the past. In early 2023, Hoover’s plans to put out an adult coloring book based on It Ends With Us drew intense criticism. (A coloring book? About domestic violence?) She canceled the launch, calling herself “tone-deaf” on Instagram. (She kept the Olive and June collab, which put her name on nail polish themed to her books; you can buy colors called “Lily Blooms,” “Atlas,” and “Corrigan.”) Already, think pieces about the apparent mismatch between the movie’s marketing and its very serious subject matter are out there, with more surely to come.

The movie hews quite closely to the book, aside from sprinkling in some topical references (Lily joking that Ryle looks like a “crypto bro,” or Ryle proposing to Lily by asking, half-seriously, if she wants to “wear a white dress and have my babies,” an apparent reference to tradwife culture) and omitting some of the book’s more regrettable gimmicks. We do fine without young Lily’s habit of writing diary entries addressed to Ellen DeGeneres, the book’s bizarre multiple mentions of the strength of “ marine-grade polymer ,” and the fact that the smoking gun that sets Ryle off the last time he abuses Lily before she leaves him is a magnet that teen Atlas gave teen Lily that refers to how everything is “Better in Boston.” In the book, Ryle figures out that Atlas’ restaurant is named “BiB” because it’s a reference to this saying, which was a shibboleth between the two teens when they were yearning for escape from their small town. Some credit is owed to whoever read the book and decided the movie should instead use a little heart tattoo on Lily’s collarbone—a reference to a trinket Atlas carved her, from an oak tree they talked about once, all of which inspired movie Atlas to call his restaurant “Root”—as the telltale clue that brings everything to a head. At the very least, this swap elevated the aesthetics of Lily’s character—a witchy, dreamy, overalls-wearing thirtysomething obsessed with nature, basically a walking Taylor Swift album cover—and demoted the supposed romance of Boston, the mystique of which plays way too big a role in the book given that we are talking about … Boston.

People around BookTok and Romancelandia have been debating whether the representation of domestic violence in It Ends With Us is “bad” for readers for a long time —so long that some CoHorts have dreaded the advent of this movie, for the way that it would inevitably revive a debate they see as exhausting. Among the common critiques: Ryle is written as way too attractive before Hoover flips the switch and shows him as abusive. The book lauds Lily for getting away from him, which may make people blame domestic violence victims who don’t manage this, rather than blaming the abusers. It also makes getting away look way too easy: Not only does Ryle’s sister, who’s Lily’s best friend, immediately support Lily in her choice, but Ryle himself, at the end of the book, readily agrees to give Lily a divorce, immediately after she gives birth to their daughter, Emerson. Ryle, in both the book and the movie, is a character who inspires a surprising amount of empathy, for an abuser. That’s because his core, Walk Hard –esque trauma is that, as a child, he accidentally shot and killed his brother. (Maybe Colleen Hoover’s real “message” is Everyone: Lock up your guns . On that, we can all surely agree.)

And then there’s the fact that this serious story about abuse is also a romantic love triangle, something that may surprise non-book-reading moviegoers shocked by Ryle’s dark turn in the second act of the movie. Will Lily pick this handsome neurosurgeon, who may or may not get over his childhood trauma and stop hitting her when he gets triggered by jealousy of her old flame? Or will she go with the good guy she met in adolescence, who somehow went from being a teen kicked out of his house by his mother to eight years in the Marines, to, via an unknown source of funding, becoming the chef and owner of the best new restaurant in Boston? Yes, Lily is abused and grew up watching her mom get abused, but she’s also beloved. She has Allysa, and her mom, and Atlas for backup. When Atlas hugs Lily on the street, as they say goodbye in the movie, he utters words straight from the book, words destined to be highlighted by 21,048 other Kindle users: “In the future … if by some miracle you ever find yourself in the position to fall in love again … fall in love with me.” (Book readers know: She will.)

The very fact that Lily, a resident of abortion-friendly Massachusetts—everything is Better in Boston!—decides to keep that pregnancy, which she discovers in the emergency room after her husband tries to bite her tattoo off , and manages to both have this wanted baby and divorce her unwanted husband, is another bit of unreality. In the film, the characters are older, and the script inserts a scene with Lily worrying about her biological clock, which makes this choice make a bit more sense. But still—when Blake Lively cuddles that little baby and kisses her head and says, “It ends with us,” then repeats, “It ends with us,” you could be forgiven for groaning a bit. Good thing Lily Bloom’s mother is ready and willing to do child care! Lily has a quirky, and bizarrely successful, flower shop to run.

The movie does make one more key change, though you could be forgiven for missing it. In the book’s final scene, Atlas and Lily run into each other on the street, and Lily lets Atlas know that she is divorced and available by dropping a reference to a custody arrangement: She and Ryle are still sharing the child. In the movie, Lily tells him: “It’s just the two of us.” This, Baldoni has said, was a change he and the screenwriter made in conversation with No More , the advocacy group they worked with, and was a way for the film to face up to the question of whether Lily really should have shared custody with Ryle, given his serious anger issues and propensity to violence. But the choice also makes movie Ryle into an abuser who knows he’s not good for his family and fades off into the sunset—a different kind of hero, but a hero nonetheless.

The change might sit oddly with readers, given that in the second book in this series, It Starts With Us , which follows Lily and Atlas’ romance as it develops from the end of It Ends With Us , there is co-parenting galore. But, while writing Starts , Hoover did seem to have taken some of these critiques of the first book to heart. In that book, Lily mentions again and again her luck in having a support system to lean on to make it as a single mom, and Ryle does not go gently into that good divorce. He’s jealous and controlling and omnipresent, and stops being at all attractive to Lily, becoming, instead, the biggest problem she has.

You can say a lot about Colleen Hoover, but it’s rare for a writer adjacent to romance to take a onetime love interest and make him so distasteful. But that’s Colleen Hoover for you—she’ll try anything, for good or for ill. If this movie does as well as it’s projected to do, we will surely be seeing It Starts With Us on our screens in a year or two. Maybe by then, a few more viewers will know what they’re in for.

• Cast & crew

Christmas Eve in Miller's Point

On Christmas Eve, a family gathers for what could be the last holiday in their ancestral home. As the night wears on and generational tensions arise, one of the teenagers sneaks out with her... Read all On Christmas Eve, a family gathers for what could be the last holiday in their ancestral home. As the night wears on and generational tensions arise, one of the teenagers sneaks out with her friends to claim the wintry suburb for her own. On Christmas Eve, a family gathers for what could be the last holiday in their ancestral home. As the night wears on and generational tensions arise, one of the teenagers sneaks out with her friends to claim the wintry suburb for her own.

• Tyler Taormina
• Eric Berger
• Michael Cera
• Elsie Fisher
• Maria Dizzia
• 7 Critic reviews
• 75 Metascore
• 2 nominations

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• When will Christmas Eve in Miller's Point be released? Powered by Alexa
• November 15, 2024 (United States)
• United States
• Omnes Films
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• Runtime 1 hour 46 minutes

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Who Is Shailaja Balakrishnan, Tamil Superstar Chiyaan Vikram’s Wife

Curated By : Entertainment Bureau

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Last Updated: August 14, 2024, 17:44 IST

Chennai, India

The love story of Vikram and his wife is as intriguing as any film plot.

Vikram's wife, Shailaja Balakrishnan has managed to carve out her own identity.

Chiyaan Vikram is an Indian actor, who primarily works in Tamil films, but has also acted in a few Malayalam movies. He is one of the most awarded actors in Tamil cinema and has received eight Filmfare Awards South, one National Film Award, four Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and the Kalaimamani Award from the Government of Tamil Nadu. Vikram’s wife, Shailaja Balakrishnan has managed to carve out her own identity while being married to one of the most prominent actors in the Tamil film industry. Born in the city of Chennai, Shailaja hails from a family that values education and culture. Before marrying Vikram, she was known for her own achievements, both academically and personally.

Shailaja was born on April 21, 1981, into a family of well-educated individuals. Growing up, she was deeply influenced by her parents, who instilled in her the importance of hard work and determination. She pursued her education with dedication and excelled in her studies, eventually earning a degree in psychology.

The love story of Vikram and Shailaja is as intriguing as any film plot. They crossed paths during a film event, where Vikram was a prominent guest. Shailaja, who had been a fan of Vikram’s work, was instantly drawn to his charisma and charm. Their initial interactions blossomed into a deep friendship, which eventually led to romance. Despite the challenges posed by their busy schedules, they found time for each other.

Vikram and Shailaja tied the knot on April 14, 1992, in an intimate ceremony attended by family and close friends. Their marriage is often described as a partnership built on trust and mutual support. Shailaja has been Vikram’s anchor through the ups and downs of his career, providing him with the emotional strength he needs to navigate the competitive world of cinema.

Vikram and Shailaja are proud parents to two children, a daughter and a son. Together, they prioritise family values and ensure that their children grow up in a nurturing environment.

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