We Don't Always Have To Put Our Kids First

My wife Sam and I recently had the luxury of watching an entire movie in one sitting. After getting our boys to bed early on a Sunday night, we tucked into “The Idea of You,” starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine. Our expectations were not excessive: We assumed the film would be sexy, a little dramatic and kind of cheesy. If nothing else, the leading man and leading lady are both achingly beautiful. We were not disappointed. (Note some spoilers below).

The premise begins as follows: When 40-year-old mom Solène accidentally mistakes 20-something boy-band heartthrob Hayes Campbell’s trailer for the bathroom at Coachella, sparks fly. But she’s way too old for him, right?

Over the course of a tumultuous few months, the pair fall madly and inconveniently in love. When Solène secretly joins Hayes on his European tour, the couple get handsy all over Barcelona, Rome and Paris. But it’s not long before their age difference, coupled with Hayes’ global fame, causes some friction. Solène is ridiculed by Hayes’ bandmate and his thong-clad girlfriends, while back in LA, her cheating ex and teenage daughter are ignorant of her romance. Even Solène’s dreamy little Silver Lake bungalow is no match for the harassment of the paparazzi and high school bullies, and she ultimately decides to put her daughter’s needs before her own. Solène breaks things off with Hayes.

As the credits rolled, Sam and I agreed: It didn’t have to be so dramatic. “If she really wanted to get her daughter through high school, she only needed to wait a couple more years,” Sam pointed out. But why did she have to wait at all? Why was heartbreak the only solution? Was Solène right to end her relationship to protect her daughter, I wondered?

This idea that