I read Robinne Lee’s novel The Idea of You, published in 2017, after watching the trailer for the movie adaptation. It stars Anne Hathaway as Solene, Nicholas Galitzine as Hayes and Ella Rubin as Isabelle. The trailer was promising – the book was good – the movie…less so.
Reading a book and then disliking the movie adaptation is nothing new; it happens to me a lot. Sometimes the adaptation still works, though, even if it departs from the book. Well, this one didn’t, at least not for me. I discuss some differences between the book and the movie below. There are spoilers all over the place.
Novel synopsis
The Idea of You is a contemporary romance novel that follows the unexpected and passionate relationship between Solène Marchand, a 39-year-old art gallery owner, and Hayes Campbell, a 20-year-old famous boy band member. When Solène reluctantly agrees to take her 12-year-old daughter to meet her favorite boy band, she doesn’t anticipate the profound connection she’ll feel with Hayes. Despite their age difference and the intense scrutiny from both the media and their families, Solène and Hayes embark on a whirlwind romance that challenges societal norms and forces them to confront their deepest desires. As their love affair unfolds amidst fame, fortune, and personal sacrifices, they must navigate the complexities of their relationship and decide if their love can withstand the pressures of their very different worlds. (Yes, this is Harry Styles fan fiction, just like After.)
Quick book review
The Idea of You is well-written, has some hot sex scenes and challenges several societal norms and expectations. It manages to stay realistic in quite a few aspects but not in all of them. There’s the older woman-younger man relationship and the idea of being a “bad mother”, which I found very interesting. At the same time, the book leans heavily on sex scenes and sacrifices exploring some other possibilities. A few things are just mentioned, like Hayes’s potential mommy issues, whatever happened between him and Oliver and the whole thing with Penelope. I’d personally prefer to read above those than about how they have sex over and over again.
Speaking of sex, it’s not very believable that he’s so good at it at 20, and the amount of sex they have is also exaggerated, in my opinion. They do have conversations in the book, but it still feels like their relationship is mostly about sex. Without it, there wouldn’t be that much left.
Quick movie review
The movie was kind of disappointing for me because it strayed too far from the book. If I hadn’t read the book, it would just be a forgettable romcom, good enough for an evening when you want to watch something light.
Hathaway and Galitzine are both gorgeous, as are the characters in the book. However, I somehow struggled to see Hathaway as Solene, while Galitzine made for quite a good Hayes, I think.
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The differences between the book and the movie
Hayes’s age
The age difference in the book is striking, to say the least. I’m 30, and I can’t imagine having a relationship with a 20-year-old. At the same time, this is the most interesting aspect of the book. In the movie, Hayes is in his mid-20s, which makes him more of an adult and therefore the relationship (a bit) less shocking. I can understand why this change was made; to be fair, the book Hayes often doesn’t seem to be 20. He’s perfect at sex, a gentleman, not childish whatsoever, committed, romantic, etc. It’s easier to imagine a 24-year-old being this way.
Isabelle’s age
Solene’s daughter Isabelle is only 12 at the beginning of the book and later turns 13. In the movie, Isabelle is 16 (but Ella Rubin was 20 at the time of filming). This is the change I hated the most. Isabelle, her sensitive age and her obsession with August Moon are, besides the age difference between Solene and Hayes, what makes the book so gripping. Mother and daughter are basically into the same guy, who is much closer to the daughter’s age than the mother’s. It’s weird and a little bit gross – but interesting! Isabelle is bullied in school, which she takes very badly. She doesn’t just accept the relationship like the movie Isabelle basically does. In the movie, some bullying is mentioned, there are paparazzi in front of the house, but that’s it. Isabelle isn’t even into August Moon anymore because they’re “so seventh grade”.
Sex
I feels like the book is 70% sex. That’s probably not true, but there’s definitely a lot of it – probably too much. Still, it’s a bit weird that it seems to barely be there in the movie. There’s a hot kiss and then a hot third base scene a little bit later, but that’s it. The rest is a montage of very small parts of sex scenes and doing expensive stuff in Europe. The book is extremely spicy – the movie is just like every other rom-com.
Solene’s character
The book Solene isn’t perfect. She’s selfish and puts her daughter’s and coworkers’ happiness at risk to achieve her own. She’s not a perfect mother, friend, coworker, boss or ex-wife, but she’s human and she’s in love. In the movie, everything happens very fast. There isn’t that much hiding and sneaking around, and because Isabelle and Hayes are older and Solene leaves Hayes sooner, it doesn’t seem that bad.
The paparazzi pic
In the book, a paparazzi takes a picture of Hayes going down on Solene. In the movie, they’re just in their swimming suits, lying down and about to kiss. Again, the movie version is family-friendly, not daring to go where the book went. In the book, a 13-year-old girl has to see a picture of her favorite singer, who she has a crush on, performing cunnilingus on her mother.
Daniel
In the book, Daniel and Solene separated because they didn’t get along anymore and didn’t meet each other’s expectations. Solene isn’t happy about Daniel getting together with a 30-year-old woman, Eva, whom he gets pregnant and marries. Daniel seems to be more human in the book – not entirely bad and not entirely good. In the movie, Daniel cheated on Solene for a year and everyone except Solene knew. Then he left her. Funnily enough, his new girlfriend, Eva, tells Solene that she’s leaving him, which is kind of random. He’s selfish and basically a villain.
The ending of The Idea of You
In the book, after all the abuse from the fans and the paparazzi plus the bullying in Isabelle’s school and also due to the huge age gap between them, Solene leaves Hayes. It isn’t implied that they ever meet again. Instead, he texts and calls for a long time, but she doesn’t reply. In the movie, they break up, but five years later, when Isabelle is in college and Hayes has left his boy band, he comes to Solene’s gallery again. There’s a possibility that they might get together again, but we don’t know (but probably). I preferred the book ending – it was more realistic.
