The opening to this piece is fascinating as it describes how certain aspects of life appear to define an individual. Moving forward, however, the clichés do not cease. In the life of Tessa Young (Josephine Langford), the defining moment appears to be, somewhere along the line, meeting becoming annoyed, falling in love, and then heartbroken by and eventually reuniting with Hardin Scott (Hero Fiennes Tiffin).
Tessa is from the suburbs and is an innocent and inexperienced young woman. But in contrast to her, there is Hardin, a bad boy although he has a tough persona and loves to claim that he is not a romantic and has a tendency to get violent, he is a wounded softy. not to mention the fact that his body is covered with some eclectic tattoos. One of the many tattoos on his body is a collection of guinea pigs wearing sunglasses on his forearm. Undoubtedly the romance between these two is difficult to ignore and it is hence easy to get lost in the character’s body art.
To better understand how the film might not live up to the expectations set by the voiceover, it is crucial to understand how it is based on the first book in Anna Todd’s series. By the looks of the voiceover in the beginning, there seem to be no life-altering events. There seems to be no self-contained story, but rather, three significant scenes that look like they were ripped from other future books.
In comparison to other films of various types of love, there tend to be no fantastical characters and no eccentric adult scenes. What we do tend to get is a lot of drowsy actors who, in some scenes, passively avoid being classified as zombies as they perform very dry and polite foreplay.
The story follows Tessa as she heads off to university, accompanied by her mother Carol, and her boyfriend Noah. Rather, a brother figure to Tessa who tends to act more like a sibling. Before Tessa leaves Noah he reluctantly gives her a light kiss that is, well, quite underwhelming. Putting aside what seems to be an unsatisfying offering from Noah the romance between Hardin and Tessa does seem like a better alternative.
As a side note, those two cross paths when he finds himself resolutely waiting in Tessa’s dorm room after she’s had a shower. Much later on, they argue about Pride and Prejudice which is meant to showcase that they bicker in a manner reminiscent of the aforementioned couple from that novel. We know this because Susan McMartin’s screenplay has made it very clear, which is how should I put this a very questionable association to make.
Eventually, the two bond over their mutual love for fiction as Tessa, desperately trying to avoid having to kiss him during a round of Truth or Dare, is left stunned when she spots a copy of Wuthering Heights in Hardin’s bedroom. Instead of kissing, they decide to withhold, but in doing so, their faces remain suspended right next to each other. It is shocking how much one could measure the growth of their relationship with the distance of his face from different parts of her body.
Things do escalate, or maybe they do not. I find it hard to know whether Director Jenny Gage is simply limited in scope by a young adult romance in which all the sexy parts are just hinted at or if being placed in such contexts, the couple essentially undresses a little more with each encounter before cuddling, is how they are meant to take these slightly sensual scenes. Instead, the couple gradually disrobes a little more with every meeting before engaging in foreplay. The sex does occur after the love-skeptic Hardin asks Tessa to move in with him. As expected, there is a snag in the relationship at this point which concerns a couple of Hardin’s friends who are too! desperate for drama. That leads to a lot of pouting.
If a good chunk of these observations appear to be squarely aimed towards sex (or the lack thereof) it is only because there is nothing else in the movie that captivates my interest or is head-scratchingly baffling in nature. (Except for some bizarre plot-required behavior from tertiary characters, like Tessa’s mother nearly disowning her once she finds out about the relationship.) Tessa has left quite literally a blank canvas so she can float around the whimsy of the plot and react to Hardin as he slowly morphs into seeing her as a romantic figure. The performances are unchanging, the lines are dished out in a mixture of sugary sweet romance and blunt declarations that straddle the line of giving Hardin too much background for his rebellious persona.
There’s a scene in “After” where the two star-crossed lovers jump into a lake and everything freezes and goes quiet. Hardin says It’s beautiful, the silence.” When he emerges from the water. You have no idea, kid.
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