Two Different Love Stories: ‘The Idea of You’ Book vs. Movie Showdown
If you’ve watched the movie “The Idea of You” and read the book, you know what I mean when I say that to call the movie an adaptation of the book is a huge understatement. It’s nearly an entirely different story.
The characters are similar, with some exact pieces of dialogue inserted into different scenes and different places in the story (e.g. “I could be your mother”; “Where have you been? In my thirties”). There are also some little details from the book that make their way into the movie in its retelling.
But before I go any further, just know I can’t really break it all down without including spoilers.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Plot Structure
The movie follows more of a typical romance plot with a meet cute, period of pursuit and resistance, followed by getting together and a period of happiness. Then there’s a wrinkle that threatens to pull them apart but is resolved, and finally a bigger complication that does separate them, followed by the hope for a HFN or HEA.
The book is structured by having each scene or meetup in a different location, each with it’s own chapter. There is less narrative arc, yet the story evolves more as if it might in real life (or in our real life daydreams). Not much really happens and then it ends.
Key Differences
The Meet Cute
The meet cute is much cuter in the movie—she mistakes his trailer for the VIP bathroom. Anyone who has been at a music festival knows that without clarification about there being special VIP bathrooms, no one would mistake this trailer for the loo.
In the book, the meeting is much more ordinary. She catches his eye at the meet and greet, and he makes an effort to talk to her and then invites her and the girls backstage after the show.
The Relationship Development
The bulk of the book is a series of meetups in locations across the globe over the course of a year. The movie condenses this by having her go on European tour with him for the summer, while her daughter is at camp. This change was necessary because it would have needed to be a TV series like Normal People or Daisy Jones to replicate that properly.
On top of that, most of the meetups consist of some fun banter and funner sex. The movie would have become repetitive and boring in a hurry.
In both versions, what starts as a divorced single mom deciding to just go for it and have a little fun ends up turning into love. In the book, the physical connection eventually turns into more, mainly conveyed through the characters telling each other. In the movie, he is sweet, and they connect as two people with trust issues before they physically connect, giving us some emotional depth first.
The Age Gap
The movie sanitizes things by shortening their age gap to 24 and 40. This helps remove the cringe factor. In the book, he is 20 and remains 20 for most of the year. At one point, she has turned 40, and I found myself wondering if this guy was ever going to turn 21 or if he was immortal.
In the book, her final impetus to let him go stems from knowing he’s so young and has his whole life ahead of him. He has only had the band for 3 years and he started it so he is more invested in the fate of the band.
At 24 in the movie, one can believe that he might have a bit more of an idea about what he wants, especially since he auditioned for the band at 14 and has had this grown-up lifestyle for nearly a decade.
Isabelle (The Daughter)
Izzy is 16, nearly 17 in the movie and no longer likes the band that much—her heartthrob was Rory.
In the book, she is 12, going on 13 and she is in the thick of her August Moon phase. She thinks she loves Hayes and is devastated by Hayes picking her mom over her. In the movie, she doesn’t care about that, only that she was lied to.
It’s too bad because one thing I appreciated in the book is the scene where he comes over and has a chat with Isabelle after she’s learned the truth and is mad and upset with her mom. It was very sweet and one of my favorite moments.
Sexual Content
The movie does a good job of conveying their passion with some great kissing scenes without making their relationship heavily sexual as in the book. In the book, they spend a good deal of their meetups doing stuff to and with each other.
The Tone
The film has been billed as a Rom-Com. In the book, the characters have funny banter, especially in the beginning, that made their relationship fun. The author was particularly good at giving them double entendre lines that really could be completely innocent, or very suggestive. Without the entertaining dialogue between them, the book would have been just a series of sexcapades.
In the movie, they might be happy together, but other than the bathroom meeting, there aren’t many comedic or awkwardly funny moments. It’s more serious—not in a dramatic way, it remains pretty feel-good overall–but it’s not going to make you do more than occasionally chuckle.
The Conflicts
The first conflict that makes her leave Hayes in the movie doesn’t feel real. In the book, she also discovers he has a “type,” but it doesn’t really change her mind about anything.
In the movie she learns that he prefers older women, and that dedicating a song seemingly impromptu is a move the boys in the band often pull when they meet someone. In her mind, this feels equivalent to learning her husband had cheated on her, which in my mind doesn’t even come close.
In the book, there is some relationship tension, mostly because she stalls telling her daughter about the relationship, and that she wants to keep their relationship a secret for fear of being judged. There is also some discussion as to whether he is hooking up with other people in between their visits. Nothing ever seriously threatens to break them up though.
The final conflict about negative publicity and fan reactions to their relationship and the toll it takes on Izzy is in both the book and the movie. In fact, the scene where Solene picks her up from school and people at school have been saying things to upset Izzy is the only scene that remains as is in both versions. It is the turning point that makes Solene realize that her daughter didn’t ask for this craziness and she needed to put her daughter first.
The movie does a beautiful job with the final breakup, as he shows up to her door late at night. In the book they spend one last night together, but in the movie this is barely implied.
In the book, during that last night, he confesses he’s left the band and that’s when she realizes he is way too young to be throwing away his life and his dreams for her. Their final parting in the movie is much more bittersweet and less desperate on his part.
Side Characters
Daniel’s relationship with Eva progresses to marriage and a pregnancy in the book, but in the movie he and Eva split. Either way, there is satisfaction for us that she gets the young hot rock star much to his chagrin.
There also seems to be a difference in that we are never explicitly told in the book that Daniel cheated with Eva. Instead, he and Solene just grew apart, he wasn’t supportive of her business or her passion for art.
The book namedrops artists and Solene gets enthused about art a lot. In one hilarious scene when Hayes demonstrates that he has brushed up on his art knowledge and holds his own with her arty friends, she is incredibly turned on and later actually cries that he took the time and effort.
Character Portrayal
In the book, Hayes is a little more confident and self-assured throughout until he senses Solene is going to let him go, then we see his immaturity & vulnerability as he cries and begs her not to leave him.
He is still forward in pursuing her in the movie, but is a little more vulnerable throughout. But he’s also more mature in that both times she breaks up with him, he is upset, but ultimately accepts it and lets her go.
In both the book and movie, they are captivated by each other’s mouths, and the casting director did a great job as Nicholas Galitzine has full lips and Anne Hathaway has a Julia Roberts-esque mouth. Just felt compelled to point that out. Those little details.
Scenes I Wished Were in the Movie
- Hayes comforting Isabelle
- The Back Street Boys and Monkees conversation (the characters’ humor and wit are noticeably lacking in the movie)
- Hayes meeting Daniel at the Soho house and the ensuing texts
- The dinner in Paris with her art friends where Hayes impresses her with his intelligence
- The first kiss “did not see that coming” scene
Who Did It Better?
Characters
In the first part of the book, they have great banter, but then they plateau without much character growth. Meanwhile, in the movie, they are two people with trust issues who open up to each other and find some healing. I give the characters to the movie. The casting was fantastic, and they are more likeable.
Script/Dialogue
This is harder to compare because the movie has much more minimalist dialogue with a lot communicated through looks. I give the book the nod for dialogue because it is well-written, with playful humor and sexiness. The book’s dialogue is what saves it from being boring because not much really happens plot wise.
However, the story (the plot) goes to the movie, no doubt. There is much more of an arc. In the book, the relationship keeps going on and on with no real complications until the very end.
Themes
The movie’s theme seems more about her getting past her divorce and healing, while the book focuses more on the craziness of fame and trying to maintain a normal relationship. The book also explores how older women are no longer “seen” as desirable and viewed only as “mom” or “business,” with Hayes’s attraction to her being seen as an anomaly in Solene’s world.
Interestingly, while the age gap is a problem in the book only in that Solene feels like if people knew she would be judged, in the movie the age difference feels less consequential. In both it is the age gap between them that creates the negative backlash from the press and the fans, but it is this nasty reaction, not the age difference itself that ultimately creates the problems. If he had no fans, it wouldn’t have been an issue.
Even though that fan reaction is what ultimately breaks them up in both versions, the book does a better job illustrating just how crazy it can be to live with that level of adulation and scrutiny. The lack of privacy, the need to choreograph your entrances and exits, the need for security, the need to completely ignore the lies people say about you. Not to mention the harassment Solene faces with threatening packages being sent to her home address and her gallery defaced. When he offers to leave the band, she rightly states that it won’t help. She will be all the more hated but his fans will always love him–they don’t hold him responsible–they take it all out on her.
Overall
Watch the movie. The movie did it better, even though it is hard to fairly compare them because it is the same story more in name and spirit than anything else. The movie also has an advantage in that it brings the band’s songs to life and leaves us humming.
Usually when a book comes first, it is better, but this is one of those rare instances where they took the source material and made it into something more compelling in the film.
