Love can be a complicated concept for many people—some yearn for it while others find no significance in it. Most romance movies choose to depict a love story with a charming and lovable cast of characters with their own quirks, who eventually overcome any conflict and live happily ever after. However, (500) Days of Summer strays away from this norm and creates its own definition of a love story. Directed by Marc Webb and featuring Joseph Gordon-Lewitt and Zooey Deschanel as the protagonists, the film is a romantic comedy that follows a non-linear storyline to illustrate their journey.
Joseph Gordon-Lewitt portrays Tom Hansen, a hopeless romantic who believes that his life won’t be fulfilled until he meets his true love. Summer Finn, played by Zooey Deschanel, does not share this mindset and is not exactly searching for love as desperately as Tom is. The pacing of this movie behaves differently from other romantic comedies, where it follows Tom’s reflection on their relationship that festers for 500 days and his analysis of what has led to the end of their relationship. The movie introduces itself as not a love story and instead portrays a relationship that is doomed from the start. With Tom’s desperate desire to find love, his initial interest in Summer is only superficial. The movie spans hundreds of days, skipping weeks and months to show them indulging in their shared hobbies and a period of bliss and happiness that Tom finds himself cherishing. However, what differentiates the two greatly is their belief in love. Summer believes that the concept of love is too difficult to apply to the real world and is merely fantasy. This difference in perspectives on the foundation of a relationship foreshadows the instability of their relationship. Although Summer clearly opposes a serious relationship, Tom blindly follows her lead and agrees with her expectations of no mutual commitment to each other.
Throughout their entire relationship, Tom sees the world differently when he’s with Summer than when he’s not. It’s interesting how drastically Tom’s perspective changes, yet how little it affects Summer. As the viewer, I was surprised that although Tom lives the same life, his world becomes so much more depressing after his falling off with Summer. The reason the change is so dramatic is that Tom does not realize the risk of falling in love with someone who never takes their relationship seriously. Tom begins with loving each namable quality of hers, even the most intricate features, to resenting them. Summer’s irrational and careless perspective on their relationship eventually drives Tom to madness and depression.
(500) Days of Summer’s subversion of the typical romance narrative challenges the audience to realize not all relationships are destined for the long term. With a non-linear story arc, the film differentiates itself from other romance films by creating a sense of unpredictability. In a world filled with fairy-tale romances, 500 Days of Summer embraces the messy, bittersweet reality of love and loss.