The Idea of You: Is the New Prime Video Film Fact or Fan Fiction?
Robbine Lee is the author of the hit romance novel The Idea of You, recently adapted into a Prime Video film. The film follows the romantic trials and tribulations of Solène Marchand (Anne Hathaway), a 39-year-old French connoisseur of art, August Moon, a 24-year-old pop singer famous for boy band stardom (Nicholas Galitzine), and complicated navigations of a relationship with an evident age distance.
Though the film’s main focus surrounds the age gap between Hathaway and Galitzine’s characters, the film has the seeded theme of liberation and dismissal of outside eyes in the Prime Video original. As of late, the pipeline of fantastical fiction written from platforms, such as Wattpad or Archive Our Own to film production has become frequent in recent years. A prominent example is the Wattpad series After, inspired by the once-on-the-rise boy band group, One Direction, primarily focusing on the character of Harry Styles.
Anne Hathaway can do no wrong in ‘The Idea Of You.’ From her character’s sexually liberated Essex Hotel grown and sexy pop up romp, debilitating emotional breakdown over her husband’s infidelity + betrayal, to her viral mortified mom walk of shame at her daughter’s summer camp,… pic.twitter.com/sjnYDCePf8— Nikki Fowler @Cannes (@NikkiFowler28) May 3, 2024
The similarity between Lee’s The Idea of You and fan fiction adaptations draws connections, alluding to the film being of the same genre: an adaptation of fan fiction. But the notion couldn’t be further from the truth.
The novelist has faced speculation and heated debates concerning her novel’s similarities to recent fan fiction adaptations. Though merely speculation, Lee has gone on record claiming that the novel is pure fiction exclusively inspired by her own experiences and creative ideas.
#theideaofyou really did me in in a way that i didn't expect. and the fact that it was adapted by robinne lee, a black woman made it even more chef's kiss.— Georgette Pierre (@georgette) May 19, 2024
“A lot of people want to think it’s Harry Styles. There’s a little Harry Styles in there, but there’s a lot of other people that I know and have had experiences with who went more into making Hayes Campbell than Harry Styles,” Lee tells in Entertainment Tonight. Lee details the luxurious and tubulous love affair between herself and the infamous boy band star who fulfilled her desires and love.
In an interview with ELLE, she recounts the love affair and entanglement with the mystery pop star and the love interest in her novel and film. Lee’s main focus of the story surrounds the relationship between Solène and August’s “scandalous” affair; the underlying tones of liberation through rejection of public opinion and societal dictations is undoubtedly the film’s star.
I am not exaggerating even a little when I say The Idea of You is the only thing that matters right now. Like at all.— Laura Hopkins (@thepinata) May 19, 2024
Lee remarks on the underlying theme, “I wanted to rail against that [stereotypes and prejudices of women nearing ‘middle age’]. I thought I could write this story about this woman turning 40 and—just when the world, the media, and our culture are telling her she’s no longer sexually viable or desirable—she’s having the biggest sexual awakening of her life.” She goes as far as to pull from her own experiences to depict a true and honest love story with thought-provoking themes and undertones since Lee had undergone those moments in her life.
You can watch The Idea of You, out now, on Prime Video.
