La La Land Movie Spoilers
Wondering What Happens at the End of La La Land? We Got You
In case you've been conspicuously absent from the cinematic world for the past number of weeks, allow us to tell you about La La Land. The movie musical has already garnered staggering recognition through award show nods and wins and, in our very own words, is the year's most romantic film. As a love letter of sorts to the city of Los Angeles, it's stuffed with whimsy, uplifting music, bold colors, and a knee-buckling love story. There's just one thing we need to discuss: the ending. We definitely get the cinematic conclusion we've been expecting from the start, but let's just say everything doesn't pan out like we think it will.
Allow us to set the scene. Mia (Emma Stone) has just landed the role of a lifetime. She jets off to Paris to film her starring role in a huge film, one that is guaranteed to launch her career to the stars. As she prepares to leave Los Angeles, she and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) agree: this is where they part ways. Sebastian is going to be touring and producing music with his band for the foreseeable future, and Mia is going to be overseas. Here is where their love story ends. Flash forward five years.
After the time jump, everything has shifted. Mia no longer works at the coffee shop on a movie studio lot, rather she's the famous actress who comes in and picks up her coffee while everyone around her gawks. She's living in a lavish space with a child and a husband (Tom Everett Scott) who is not Sebastian. The two go to dinner, and on the way home they happen upon a bustling jazz club . . . called Seb's. Mia, along with the audience, realizes this is the club Sebastian had always dreamed of opening, with the name Mia had suggested long ago. She and her husband go in, and of course Sebastian is there, about to perform to the packed venue. He spots Mia, and after a few moments, he plays the song we all know he's going to play: the same song he plays the night the two first meet.
Suddenly, we're thrown into this crazy fantasy sequence, where everything in Sebastian and Mia's relationship goes right. Instead of brushing her off on that first night, he kisses her. Instead of the long lonely nights apart while one or the other is working, they make extra efforts to see each other. Sebastian doesn't miss Mia's one-woman show, and it's not a dud. He makes it, and the house is packed with patrons! Mia gets swept off to Paris to film her movie, and this time, Sebastian goes with her. He finds jobs playing the piano in tiny, intimate, Parisian piano bars. They get married, they have kids, they spend a full and loving life together . . . and then the song ends. Mia goes back to her A-list life with her husband, and Sebastian keeps his booming jazz club.
In a film that's so deeply rooted in romance, it's actually pretty shocking that the male and female leads don't end up together. But in a way, it almost makes sense. La La Land is, after all, about falling in love with Los Angeles as well, right? Maybe the "happily ever after" wasn't the perfect love story. Maybe it was about Sebastian and Mia going to the big city to achieve their dreams and actually making it. This tiny detail just makes the film that much more unique.
