27/02/2025 - Helena Taberna brings Isaac Rosa's novel Feliz final to the screen to expose those recognisable situations that lead to the evaporation of romantic love

In Feliz final, a book by Isaac Rosa that has enjoyed considerable critical and commercial success (having also been published in Italy, France and Germany), everything happens in reverse. As in Gaspar Noé's nightmarish Irreversible, the end is the beginning of the novel, and it unfolds in the opposite direction to the natural flow of time. In other words, we witness the destruction of a couple at the beginning of the book and end up with the beautiful outcome of them falling in love. However, the Navarran filmmaker Helena Taberna - with the complicity of her co-writer Virginia Yagüe - has not strictly adhered to the literary original. By breaking the usual narrative structure of most films, and opening with a separation, she skips through the different stages of a relationship to show how love is born, grows, deteriorates, screams, kicks and agonises in her new feature film, The Story of Us [+see also:
trailer
interview: Helena Taberna
film profile], which arrives in Spanish cinemas this Friday 28 February, with Vértigo Films.

Starring the dedicated and omnipresent María Vázquez and Pablo Molinero, The Story of Us appeals to our empathy. The plot is as simple - and at the same time as complex - as any of the romantic relationships we have experienced throughout our lives. That is to say, two people meet, court each other, fall in love, move in together, share the sofa, and start a family. Throughout this process, a decade passes, much like in the recent series  The New Years [+see also:
series review
trailer
series profile].

Also, the circle of close friends and family will play a more important role than might appear in the evolution and decisions of a couple's relationship as it goes through different stages, from the initial excitement and enthusiasm, when projects are consolidated with the cement of complicity, to the deterioration caused by routine, problems, lack of communication and, above all, jealousy.

The Story of Us is constructed from everyday scenes, like a fresco in which the bright moments shine through, but the dark and tense moments also lurk. Romantic love is a fantasy that songs, films and poems have sold us, but reality ends up shattering that delicate vase, which, wounded by mistrust, will never shine again as it once did.

It is precisely at these key moments that The Story of Us takes flight, because the sweetest moments end up being a repetition of the formula seen in a thousand romantic comedies.  And the use of deconstructed editing encourages the audience to use their intelligence and be on the lookout for what is being narrated, so as not to miss any details. However, this same technique runs the risk of confusing the viewer. All in all, the film ends up becoming a reflection (there are many shots with this same effect on window panes, shop windows and doors) where it is easy to look at yourself when you feel guilty after a break-up, searching for impossible answers to what went wrong and resignedly accepting that heartbreak too often ends up being the unhappy ending of that distant and initial passion.

The Story of Us is a film by Lamia Producciones, Vértigo Films and Nosotros La Película A.I.E. Its international sales are managed by Latido Films.

(Translated from Spanish)