ACTRESS and Met Gala favourite Blake Lively has been promoting her new film, based on the Colleen Hoover novel It ends with Us. She’s been promoting it in the usual ways, bylooking pretty and talking guff. For some reason, this time, she’s got it wrong and the internet and media are aghast at her not taking the film’s plot, around domestic violence, seriously enough.
Blake’s strategy of talking about clothes, promoting hair products and ‘bring your gal friends’ to this fun movie has backfired. I’m with Blake. What is wrong with people? Yes there’s domestic violence in the film, but like Blake, its not serious. It’s a film about a beautiful celebrated florist in a love triangle with a celebrated chef and a celebrated surgeon with a little side of domestic violence.
It is a terrible film, naturally. The chemistry between Lively and her co-star Justin Beldoni is non-existent but compensated by Blake Lively’s passion for Blake Lively. That chemistry leaps off the screen.
The younger versions of Blake and Justin out-talent the main actors and actually act like they like one another.
Not so with producer Blake and Director Justin who don’t get on at all. Justin evidently thought that the film would be taken seriously and aid the struggle of abused women everywhere. Blake seemed to at least know the film was empty of serious ideas.
She’s right to be surprised that anyone is taking it seriously. Watch it. It’s about as removed from the more mundane domestic violence situation as Blake is from mundane life. That’s Blake Lively who is now with Taylor Swift at Taylor Swift’s palace, probably bemoaning the fact that Julia Roberts didn’t have to take on the cause for prostitutes when promoting Pretty Woman.
Blake has her husband, Ryan Reynolds and her adorable children with her. The same children that Blake thought to bring onto set with her. She had them sell cookies to the normal-salaried film crew to raise money and awareness of disadvantaged people. The film crew likely found it precious. But mostly, Blake and real lives maintain a respectful distance. And people thought she and Justin would make a serious film actual domestic violence? More fool them.
If you can persevere through the perfume advert-like scenes then you get to the pivotal scene where (spoiler alert) Blake asks her husband for a divorce following the birth of their daughter. Here’s a (mildly) paraphrased summary.
Blake: If our baby grows up and gets hit by her partner what would you advise her?
Justin: To leave and not go back.
Blake: So, I want a divorce
Justin: OK.
This situation is meant to be inspirational. Go the wife with her girl power, not relying on a man to ‘break the cycle’ of violence. And go the husband with his capacity for reasoning, taking on another point of view andresponsibility. Had the writers met just one domestic abuser they may have found a different script. It might go more realistically like this:
Blake: If our baby grows and gets hit by her partner what would you advise her?
Justin: To tell me and I’ll sort him out/ Why are you starting an argument?/ Are you post-partum something cos you acting crazy?/Look we both said some things ….
Blake: I am leaving you.
Justin: No you ain’t.
The struggles of domestic abused women are not entirely about wanting to leave. They may not have alternative accommodation, they may not have support systems, their emotional strength might be low and they may face all types of barriers. Most would be like Blake’s mum in the film when Blake asks her “why didn’t you leave when it happened to you?” and her mum doesn’t say, “shut up Blake, its not always straightforward”. She says something vague whilst Blake gives us viewers the message – I love my daughter enough to leave. Domestic violence sufferers, its kind of your choice to stay – you just aren’t Blake enough.
Blake is getting a hard time for not promoting this nonsense in any serious way but she’s right. It’s not an issue film. An examination of affluent florists and great outfits, maybe, but an examination of domestic abuse, it is not. Je suis Blake.
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Photo of Blake Lively from “It ends with us” courtesy of Columbia Pictures.
