Film

It Ends with Us

A woman caught between her abusive husband and her first love must find her own strength to escape a cycle of violence. It Ends with Us is a relationship drama that doesn't flinch from the mechanics of abuse—the charm, the apologies, the hope that things will change. Colleen Hoover adaptation for people who recognize themselves in complicated situations.

TMDb rating3.5

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Sleeping with the Enemy1991

A direct predecessor about a woman escaping an abusive marriage, built with the same emotional scaffolding but tighter pacing. Julia Roberts's performance defined the archetype Lively inherits here.

But The thriller mechanics feel dated, and it wraps up with a neat bow that real escape rarely permits.

Sleeping with the Enemy poster

Speak2004

Another Laurie Halse Anderson adaptation about a woman finding her voice after trauma. Kristen Stewart's performance is subdued and devastating, showing what silence costs and what speaking up demands.

But It's quieter and darker than It Ends with Us, with less romantic resolution and more focus on the aftermath of violence itself.

Speak poster

Unbreakable2000

M. Night Shyamalan's film about a man discovering he has superhuman durability after a train crash. Like Lively's character, the protagonist must reckon with his own strength and what he's been denying about his past.

But It's a superhero origin story, not a romance, which makes it tonally jarring if you're expecting emotional beats in the same places.

Unbreakable poster

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The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Promised Land2012

Both explore how charm is weaponized, and how recognizing this in someone means reconsidering everything you believed about them.

Matt Damon and John Krasinski wrote and star in this quiet film about two men in a small town, one of whom embodies the charming exterior that hides calculated harm. It's the same moral reckoning—recognizing that likability is not the same as goodness—but filtered through male friendship and economic desperation rather than romance.

But It's a slow burn about natural gas extraction that asks the audience to sit with moral ambiguity without providing cathartic resolution.

Promised Land poster
More like this (6)

Big Little Lies2017

HBO's exceptional miniseries about three women whose lives collide, one in an abusive marriage. Reese Witherspoon carries the emotional weight with Nicole Kidman, and the show treats abuse with the seriousness and specificity It Ends with Us attempts.

But It's a full season's commitment, and the mystery-box plotting overshadows character work in ways that feel manipulative.

Big Little Lies poster

Perfect Strangers2016

Gabriele Muccino's Italian thriller about a woman revisiting an old love and discovering he's not who she remembered. It has that sickening recognition of misjudgment that It Ends with Us builds toward.

But The twist is unpleasant and serves mostly as plot machinery, not character revelation.

Perfect Strangers poster

Safe Haven2013

Another Nicholas Sparks adaptation about a woman escaping her past and finding refuge with a kind man. It commits fully to the idea that healing and new love can coexist, which balances the darker material.

But The sincerity can tip into sentimentality, and the antagonist is cartoonishly villainous compared to It Ends with Us's more insidious characterization.

Safe Haven poster

The Age of Innocence1993

Martin Scorsese's film about a man who must choose between duty and desire, trapped by social expectations. It's about the courage required to make the difficult choice rather than the easy one, with a protagonist learning that love sometimes means letting go.

But It's set in 1870s New York, moves like a formal waltz, and has no interest in contemporary relationship dynamics whatsoever.

The Age of Innocence poster

Minari2021

Both ask: at what point does staying for love become staying out of habit or fear? Both suggest the answer is personal and cannot be borrowed from anyone else.

A Korean-American family film about a grandmother moving in with her daughter's family in Arkansas. It's about cycles of sacrifice and whether the next generation will repeat their parents' choices, shot with quiet grace and no easy answers about what love actually requires of us.

But It's not about abuse or romance at all; it's a family drama in Korean and English. If you need the story to be directly about your situation, this won't feel relevant.

Minari poster

Fleabag2016

Both examine whether love in a broken family means accepting damage or whether healing requires leaving. Both suggest the answer is complicated and involves forgiving yourself first.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge's series about a woman navigating love, family, and self-sabotage. It's funny and painful in the same breath, and it understands that sometimes the person keeping you trapped is yourself. The show's treatment of a complicated father-daughter relationship mirrors the cyclical nature of inherited patterns.

But It's a comedy-drama that prioritizes laughs and breaking the fourth wall, which can feel glib when discussing serious subjects. If you want your trauma treated with solemnity, this will feel disrespectful.

Fleabag poster

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