Modern Romance on Life Support: “A Family Affair” and “The Idea of You”

Before the middle of the year, two streaming services released films with suspiciously similar plots. Let’s take a look at these “romantic” stories.

It’s not a secret that people have a tendency to like (and therefore consume) things that feel familiar. This obviously applies to entertainment as well. That is why, when something works, we can expect it to be reproduced a number of times.

Is having romantic films starred by women over forty (with much younger love interests) a trend now? 

This year, both Netflix and Amazon Prime released two films with very similar plots in the span of two months. I’m arriving late to this news, but I’m writing this article for one reason, and one reason only: I went through the hardship of watching both films when they came out, hoping to review them. Both stories are so empty that I felt demoralized, but as I refuse to admit I wasted almost four hours of my life on a fruitless undertaking, I’m going to write about them anyway.

The Wattpad Effect

While Wattpad or fan fiction sites were never something I heavily consumed as a teenager, I’ve had enough exposition to them to form an opinion. And I cannot help but see the influence of online content in modern productions, especially in romantic stories. The convenient plot, the unrealistic dialogue, and the exaggerated characterization are suspiciously familiar.

I could write an entire article about how the phenomenon of “anyone can write” has demolished not just filmmaking but literature. No. Wrong. Not anyone can write. And even more important: not anyone has something to say.

I don’t believe that every film should necessarily be a masterpiece or be life-changing. Films that bring entertainment just for the sake of it are always necessary. But we’ve come to a point where these projects are the only ones available on the market. It’s not just that these things are not award-worthy, but that they are not even funny or entertaining. Empty products for an empty-headed audience. We should be more offended.

Let’s talk about these two cases that were mentioned before.

Netlix’s Take: A Family Affair

Released in late June, A Family Affair centers on Zara (Joey King), a young woman who works as an assistant for movie star Chris Cole (Zack Efron). Even though Chris is insufferable, Zara puts up with him, hoping the job will help her make connections and become a film producer.

In a very unexpected turn of events, Chris shows up at Zara’s home and meets her mother, Brooke (Nicole Kidman). To the daughter’s horror, those two really hit it off. The whole movie is about Brooke and Chris trying to make the relationship work, and Zara trying to separate them.

Kidman and Efron seem to be in a competition to see who can take more botox, and their romance is as artificial as their faces. Joey King is playing the same character she always plays.

Amazon’s Take: The Idea of You

Different from A Family Affair, you can actually see they were trying to make the project look more professional here. If we consider just the visual aspect, The Idea of You, released in May, is the superior one by a long shot. In terms of script, however, both films are reasonably even.

Solène (Anne Hathaway) is a divorced forty-year-old art gallery owner. She has to renounce a weekend of alone time to take her teenage daughter and friends to Coachella after her ex-husband cancels the trip.

Once at the festival, Solène looks for a bathroom and accidentally ends up in Hayes Campbell’s trailer. Hayes (Nicolas Galitzine) is a member of the famous boy band August Moon. A lot of uninteresting scenes later, they fall in love.

The relationship of a twenty-something pop star with an older woman catches the media’s eye, and the couple has to fight against society’s prejudice. The film ignores that, in this day and age, media outlets would take the woman’s side.

We Used To Call Them Commercials

Maybe the most obvious proof that these productions are made to be fast food is the way they are presented. Overbold product placement has become the norm in most films these days, but now we have the addition of TikTok-like music. It’s like the people behind the project are more concerned about how many products they can advertise than how to tell a good story.

Once more, Netflix gets the crown here. A Family Affair is nothing but a long commercial.

Fake Equality and The Infantilization of Women

And here is my biggest problem with these stories: the hypocrisy.

If a man dares date a younger woman, even if the age difference is not huge, that is automatically condemned and labels that man as a creep. Because, as you see, there is a power imbalance in that relationship. The man will manipulate his partner into doing what he wants, he will be abusive, and it will all end tragically.

However, if a woman wants to date a much younger man, she is just living her best life. She is so empowered. You go, girl!

Let’s take The Idea of You and reverse the roles: a forty-year-old man starts a relationship with a twenty-four-year-old woman. What do you think the response to that would be?

Are Women a Beacon of Power or Just Some Poor Idiots?

For an industry that has been frantically preaching about gender equality and women’s autonomy for over a decade, this is quite hypocritical. It is not just that they are taking at face value that men are terrible and will take advantage of their partner given the chance. They are portraying women as idiots who are incapable of making good decisions for their lives. If women are so empowered and know better than anyone, why does that not apply to romantic relationships?

In these two films in particular, Brooke and Solène are portrayed as fragile and insecure. And of course, people can have bad moments at any age, but this is accompanied by a lack of personality and an emotional immaturity that resembles that of teenagers rather than grown women. This is especially evident because in both movies, the protagonist has a young daughter, and their behaviors are not that different.

Streaming Platforms: The Places Where Careers Go to Die

One thing is seeing Joey King do her usual Netflix production role, playing an insufferable young person who behaves like she is twelve, even though she looks at least in her mid-twenties. But Nicole Kidman and Anne Hathaway used to be serious actresses. And Kathy Bates! What is she doing there?

These women won Academy Awards at a time when those awards still meant something. To see them participate in such low-quality productions, even if they got paid millions just for showing up, is a demotion.

If the A-listers are doing this for a living, what about the rest of the industry? No wonder entertainment has been having a hard time these past years. One thing is clear: Hollywood needs new talent. No diversity hires, but actual talent, if they mean to survive this decade. Otherwise, they are in trouble.