Another brilliant English romantic cinema produced in 2014. I recently added If I stay and this is another coming of age novel starting with 2 people in their teenage and ending when they are 30. Along the way, they always find ways to support each other and look out for each other.
The Boy(Sam) kisses Lily on the evening of her 18th birthday party and thereafter keeps his distance from her. He dates a model and gives no hint of a romantic relationship with his best friend. The girl has an affair out of spite and her pregnancy haunts her because it means she can no longer join Sam in Boston. She lets sam go and reveals nothing about the baby to him. She does not want him to forgo his dreams. Her own dreams are left in limbo and she dutifully raises her baby with the help of her supportive family.Sam returns after a few years, surprising Lily and becomes a godfather of the baby.
After the baby grows up to be a young girl, Lily visits Boston on Sam’s insistence but have a fallout when she realizes Sam did not reveal that he was about to be engaged with his girlfriend who was about to have a baby. Lily brings back the girl’s biological father in her life but she is never truly happy with him. Things turn worse when her father dies and she discovers that he his Sam’s letters from her.
She insists that Sam’s original girlfriend hook up with Sam after his split with present girlfriend but she is shocked when she discovers that they are getting married. In the marriage reception, she declares her love indirectly to Sam. Sam comforts Lily’s daughter when she is upset after her boyfriend kisses her. He tells her that love ought to express itself. He kept quiet after kissing Lily on her 18th birthday when the fact was that Lily was his only true love. Both realize they love each other but twist of fate keeps them apart.
In the final scene, she sells her home and makes a hotel, following the dying advise of her dad to live out her dream. Sam is a guest there, telling Lily that he has left his wife and the lovers finally unite. It is a brilliant touching film and Lily Collins is par excellent.