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The Idea of You
Movie

The Idea of You

2024 • Comedy, Drama, Romance

Woke Score
5
out of 10

Plot

Solène, a 40-year-old single mom, begins an unexpected romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell, the lead singer of August Moon, the hottest boy band on the planet.

Overall Series Review

The film focuses on the age-gap romance between 40-year-old single mother Solène and 24-year-old boyband star Hayes Campbell. The central conflict directly addresses the societal double standard where older women pursuing younger men face intense scrutiny and vilification, framing this as an issue of modern female liberation. Solène is portrayed as a successful and poised art gallery owner who is ready for a 'new lease on life' following her divorce. Her former husband is shown as a less-than-ideal father, while her new, much-younger partner is depicted as a perfect, sensitive heartthrob, a figure of romantic wish-fulfillment. The narrative is preoccupied with Solène's journey of self-rediscovery and romantic fulfillment, suggesting a life outside of traditional family structure is empowering, though the challenges of this choice on her daughter are acknowledged as a consequence she must manage. The film avoids explicit political lecturing beyond the feminist double-standard theme, and does not engage with topics of race, deep anti-Western sentiment, or explicit sexual ideology beyond the central heterosexual relationship.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics5/10

The plot centers on an identity struggle that is not based on race, but on the intersection of age and gender, highlighting the 'double standard' for women in the public spotlight and looking at whether women are 'allowed' to be with a younger man. The narrative frames the societal criticism the main character receives as a form of prejudice against her age/gender identity, giving the film a moderate score for emphasizing an intersectional hierarchy of oppression based on a characteristic other than race.

Oikophobia2/10

The film does not contain any hostility toward Western civilization, one's home, or ancestors. The setting is a standard globe-trotting rom-com between Los Angeles and Europe, and the institutions of family and business are simply the backdrop for the central romance.

Feminism8/10

The main character, Solène, is a successful art gallery owner who is 'enviably poised,' aligning with a 'Girl Boss' archetype, whose pursuit of romantic fulfillment is presented as an 'empowering' message for women over 40. The male love interest, Hayes, is simplified into a 'perfect boyfriend-ness' figure, and Solène's ex-husband is portrayed as slightly bumbling and financially better than he is personally, fulfilling the trope of the emasculated or simplified male. The narrative prioritizes the mother's career and personal life over the stability of the traditional family unit, presenting motherhood as a challenge to be worked around for her new fulfillment.

LGBTQ+1/10

The narrative's central romance is a traditional male-female pairing with an age gap. The plot does not center alternative sexualities, nor does it contain lecturing on queer theory or gender ideology, keeping the score low for this category.

Anti-Theism3/10

The film is fundamentally secular, focusing on personal desire and societal reaction. It does not actively depict hostility toward religion, specifically Christianity, nor does it feature religious characters as villains. The focus on subjective personal fulfillment over traditional structures creates a spiritual vacuum, but it is not aggressively anti-theistic.