While accompanying her 15-year-old daughter to the Coachella music festival, Solène, 40, accidentally meets Hayes, 25. Illico, this singer in a very popular group has love at first sight for the divorced gallery owner. If the same goes for Solène, she is no less on her guard. At first secret, the relationship between the reluctant “cougar” and the “youth idol” is finally discovered by the sensational media. A surge of misogynistic ageism ensues. In The Idea of You (The idea of being with you), Anne Hathaway shines brightly.
In fact, it’s so true that the star of The Devil Wears Prada (The devil wears Prada) eclipses his partner, Nicholas Galitzine. Certainly, the English actor and singer, particularly appreciated in gay romance Red, White & Royal Blueconvinces perfectly as a member of a boy band who tries to be taken seriously.
It’s simply that here, charisma-wise, Hathaway radiates, and not him: the camera decides, it cannot be controlled. The fact remains that in a romance between an “ordinary person” and a “star”, it is paradoxical that the former exudes so much more magnetism…
The action begins with verve and dynamism as we discover the fulfilled daily life, but not free of irritants, of Solène: the discussions with her best artist friend, Tracy (Annie Mumolo, funny but too brief), the dinners where we tries to find her a companion without taking the trouble to consult her, the complicity with her daughter, Izzy…
The film waits halfway before the attraction is consummated and the feelings between Solène and Hayes come to terms. As for the unfair treatment that a woman must face when scrutinized by the public eye, they are essentially relegated to a montage in the third part. In other words, under the guise of delving deeper into a supporting theme, the film ultimately remains on the surface.
There are, however, some good sharp replies, like when Solène is surprised that her happiness “angers so many people” and Tracy retorts: “Ah, didn’t I tell you? People hate happy women. »
Frustrating choices
Dependent on a jagged narrative structure, a very successful first act devoted to introducing the protagonist as well as setting up the meeting, a second devoted to the accelerated development of the romance (again with small montages) , then a third where the obligatory tests and other setbacks come one after the other, the pace proving uneven.
This is a film of an hour and a half artificially inflated to almost two hours, but where, and this is very frustrating, too much importance is given to trivial elements (the redundant scenes showing Solène moping alone at home). her) and not enough to the original components (the misogyny and ageism to which Solène is the subject).
Based on the bestselling novel by Robinne Lee, The Idea of You was co-written by Michael Showalter and Jennifer Westfeldt; Showalter also does it, competently and nothing more. The result is a fairly charming adaptation, which is worth the detour for Anne Hathaway’s heartfelt interpretation, but which is not the scathing or transgressive romantic comedy expected.