Spoiler alert: The following contains spoilers from The Idea of You.
The Idea of You chronicles a relationship between a 40-year-old woman (Solène Marchand, played by Anne Hathaway) and a 24-year-old man (Hayes Campbell, played by Nicholas Galitzine), and it’s made even more complicated by the fact that Hayes is the lead singer of a popular boy band — August Moon. The 2024 romantic comedy, directed by Michael Showalter and written by Showalter and Jennifer Westfeldt, is based on Robinne Lee’s novel of the same name, published in 2017. Even though some believe The Idea of You is based on Harry Styles fanfiction, Lee previously confirmed that it’s not.
Aside from Hathaway and Galitzine, the cast of The Idea of You includes Ella Rubin as Izzy, Reid Scott as Daniel, Annie Mumolo as Tracy, and Perry Mattfeld as Eva. However, the movie focuses mostly on Solène and Hayes’ love affair, and how it affects Solène’s life and her daughter, Izzy. Given Hayes’ fame and the societal taboos centering around an older woman dating a younger man, the couple’s relationship goes through several ups and downs throughout The Idea of You. Thankfully, the film has a clear ending that gives closure to Solène and Hayes’ romance.
Unlike Lee’s book, Solène and Hayes get a happy ending in The Idea of You, even though they have to wait five years for it. After their second breakup, Hayes makes Solène promise to revisit the idea of them as a couple in five years when Izzy is no longer in high school and Hayes’ fame has faded. However, Solène and Hayes agree that if they get “a shot at happiness,” meaning they find a significant other who makes them happy, they will take it. So, they claim they won’t wait for one another, but the ending says otherwise.
Five years after they last saw one another, Hayes shows up at Solène’s art gallery during the final scene of Anne Hathaway’s critically acclaimed rom-com. They smile at one another, and the film fades to black as the credits roll. While The Idea of You didn’t conclude with Solène and Hayes running into each other’s arms and kissing, it’s evident that they will get back together. Izzy is off at college in Chicago, and even though Hayes is seemingly still pretty famous, he and Solène are ready to try again.
Directly following the moment Hayes leaves Solène’s house after she breaks up with him a second time, The Idea of You jumps ahead five years. The flash-forward isn’t too surprising, given that Solène and Hayes promised one another to reconnect in five years if they were still willing to give their relationship a shot. Thankfully, they are ready to rekindle their romance, and both are seemingly single, meaning that Solène and Hayes never truly moved on from their love.
Perhaps now that Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine’s characters’ age gap in The Idea of You isn’t as taboo, with Hayes being 29 years old and Solène 45, the public and the media will lighten up on the criticism of their relationship. Plus, Izzy is away at college and doesn’t have to worry about her mother’s high-publicity romance with a pop star. The complications surrounding their relationship have faded, and even though Solène and Hayes had to endure five depressing years without one another, The Idea of You‘s time jump was necessary to make the couple’s story work.
As The Idea of You trailer teases, Solène and Hayes’ relationship isn’t easy, due to their age difference (which, frankly, would not be as big of a deal if the gender roles were reversed) and Hayes’ status as the lead singer of one of the most popular boy bands in the world. Their romance will always be tricky, and Solène is the more reluctant of the two to continue their affair over the course of the 2024 Amazon Prime Video rom-com. As a result, Solène ends the relationship on two separate occasions, devastating Hayes.
The couple’s first breakup transpires while vacationing in Europe with Hayes’ bandmate Ollie and groupies. They tease Solène and Hayes about their relationship, and Solène discovers from Ollie that, when Hayes dedicated a song to her during their Coachella set, it wasn’t the first time he had done so for a woman. Solène is (understandably) upset, and she and Hayes get into a fight that ends with Solène ending things and returning to Los Angeles. The two eventually get back together, but when their romance goes public, affecting Izzy’s life, Solène breaks up with Hayes again to protect her daughter.
Solène keeps her relationship with Hayes a secret in The Idea of You because she feels a little ashamed and wants to look out for her daughter. However, the paparazzi don’t care about Solène’s feelings and make her romance with Hayes known to the world, leading to Solène and Izzy receiving hate online and in public. As one would expect, many people can’t get over the fact that Solène is 16 years older than Hayes, and the scrutiny becomes too much for Solène and Izzy to handle.
Izzy’s classmates ask her to get an NSFW picture of Hayes, and the boy she has a crush on makes a rude comment — “Tell your mom I turn 18 in a month.” The publicity overwhelms Izzy, and she retreats to her father’s house. Consequently, Solène breaks up with Hayes for a second time. Of course, Solène and Hayes’ relationship affects Izzy the most, but Solène’s ex-husband and Izzy’s father, Daniel, is also upset about his ex-wife seeing a younger man. Daniel cheated on Solène with a younger woman, though, so his opinion doesn’t matter.
Amazon’s Anne Hathaway rom-com features Hayes contemplating the next steps in his musical career, as he doesn’t want to be in August Moon forever. Throughout the film, Hayes is seen working on music outside the band, and it’s clear that the story is leading up to him pursuing a solo career. Hayes is willing to leave August Moon so that Solène will stay with him, showing how little he cares about continuing to be the band’s lead singer. During the flash-forward, Solène watches Hayes perform alone on The Graham Norton Show, suggesting he quit August Moon and is now a successful solo artist.
A painting by one of Solène’s friends appears over the course of The Idea of You, and it has much more significance to the story than just being a pretty thing to look at. When Solène first shows the painting to Hayes, he asks her what she feels when she looks at it. Solène answers, “Everything,” with a smile on her face.
Later in the Amazon Prime Video rom-com, when Solène breaks up with Hayes in Europe, he describes everything he feels for her, and she tells him that she can’t say she feels the same. However, when Solène apologizes to Hayes in the recording studio, she admits she feels “everything” with him. The moment in The Idea of You is a callback to what Solène said about the painting (which Hayes bought and gave to Solène). The piece of art symbolizes Solène and Hayes’ special love for one another, and that’s why it can be consistently seen throughout the film.
Solène and Hayes don’t end up together in the book, but they cannot resist the pull they feel towards one another in the movie. They wait five years and resume their romance, picking up where they left off on Solène’s doorstep. Perhaps the screenwriters changed the story’s ending to show the resilience of a relationship that is regarded as taboo in society. Also, The Idea Of You makes it clear that an older woman dating a younger man (who is of age, of course), shouldn’t be a big deal and that hate towards a relationship of that nature is unwarranted.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes