I am shocked by the 5.5 rating of this film. Totally shocked.

Other reviewers commenting that Alice's character was "boring" clearly know nothing about what being in a narcissistically abusive relationship does to a person. You become a shell. The narcissist steals all of your personality with their abuse.

I thought this was a great portrayal of a situation that is more common than most people think. Anna Kendrick was excellent. The actors who played her friends did a fantastic job as well, realizing over the vacation exactly what kind of relationship she is in as she slowly starts to admit things to them.

I do wish the film had been longer, as I felt Alice's turnaround was a little too quick. It takes an average of seven attempts for a person to leave an abusive relationship. But I loved the climax scene. I was so proud of all three of the girls and the way they handled it. And the boyfriend reacted exactly as I knew he would, throwing the suitcase out of the car.

I didn't really understand the sub-plot of the missing girl, but I'm guessing it's to show the contrast of violence. Her boyfriend never physically abused her, but abuse is abuse.

To the reviewers on here who said we never see him doing anything "that bad"...please. Telling your partner how to eat is not okay. There were many clues throughout the film that she has an eating disorder. Many of the things he said to her in the flashback scenes were not okay. The fact that she would get up early to do her hair, put on eyeliner, and scrub her body down...those are all things brought on by his mental abuse. Her freaking out when she loses the earring he bought her and saying "I can't do anything else wrong". Plus her rushing to put on eyeliner when he got there and his comments about how she "looks different". Him blaming his work being affected by her lying to him and saying she was hanging out with her friends at his expense. The constant texting and checking in. Showing up to her girls trip? Hello! That's nuts!

If I could review this more times to get the score up, I would. I'm so glad I didn't pay attention to the bad reviews.

I didn't know how to write all the thoughts and feelings this movie made me feel. I also thought for a long time whether it is really worth writing everything, because the whole review will not be about the movie, but about the theme of this movie. I don't want to talk about this movie from a technical point of view, because I don't think it's the most important thing in this case. Yes, I think the movie is really good, but that's probably because I found so many similarities in it and I realized that I wasn't the only one who suffered from this kind of relationship. In short, the film is about a young woman trapped in an abusive relationship, and I think this is a very important topic to talk about, because an abusive relationship is very traumatic for people and their lives. There are many people in this world who are now in toxic relationships, and there are also many people who have been in this type of relationship before.

A very important point is that the film is very realistic. Of course, each person's case is different, but the whole point is abusive relationships and how being in them affects people's inner world and mental health. People feel trapped, like they have no other choice, they think that their partner is treating them badly out of love. For such people, it seems that this is how love should be, after all, just like in the movie, Simon said to Alice: "It's you and me. It's just us." Being in such a relationship is like losing yourself, at least in my opinion, the motif of the missing girl in the film shows exactly that. At that time you are absolutely addicted, if you go somewhere you feel guilty for not being with a partner, if you are having fun you feel guilty again for not being with a partner. When the partners of an abusive relationship are already completely attached to their victim, it becomes more and more difficult to escape from such a relationship.

But that's not the case, there is a way out of all these horrible things, whoever is reading this right now and is in a relationship like this, there is a way out. There will always be people around you in difficult times who really love and want to help. In the case of the film, it was Alice's friends who helped her escape from an abusive relationship. Although at first it seems that no one understands you, that everyone else is your enemy, but the truth is completely different.

Alice says: "I know this sounds crazy, but sometimes it feels like he can read my mind" and "There's nowhere left that I can actually be alone." And this is absolutely true, because people in such relationships lose themselves, forget what they really are, they can't even think logically anymore. Also, hair pulling is a very real experience caused by a very high level of stress. In fact, the movie looked so familiar that it was hard to watch.

I really highly recommend this movie because it does an excellent job of revealing the main idea and raising a very important issue. Some viewers may find it difficult to watch, but the film is definitely worth watching.

Loved this movie and a great debut for director Mary Nighy. The film creates a real sense of what it must be like for the abused party when the abuser is a controlling, manipulator. There were Great performances too from The three main characters who demonstrate the spirit of friendship as the became increasingly aware of what was really going on. It just goes to show that a psychological drama does not need to be extreme or violent and that the damage and trauma of control and manipulation can be subtle and unseen.

It's a mystery to me why the early reviews on IMDB have been so negative about this movie.