The ambiguous ending of Couples Weekend leaves a lot of room for speculation, forcing audiences to come up with their own conclusions. And, according to the cast and creative team, that was entirely intentional.
In a recent interview with ScreenRant’s Liam Crowley, stars Alexandra Daddario and Ashley Park, alongside the writer behind Couples Weekend, Nora Kirkpatrick, opened up about their takes on the film’s final moments. The three also explain that the story is ultimately exploring the themes of honesty and personal growth rather than just focusing on infidelity.
One of the biggest revelations during the discussion was how the creative team viewed the film, especially the ending, as almost a cautionary tale for long-term relationships. Kirkpatrick explained that the final scene is trying to tell viewers that couples have to reintroduce themselves to each other as they change, as most people do over time. After being with someone for several years, it is impossible for them to remain the same person they were at the beginning of the relationship, so any expectations of that would lead to conflict or even failure.
According to Kirkpatrick, the ending also explores the danger of couples slowly drifting apart emotionally while believing they are still moving forward together. She added that maintaining a relationship requires constant effort to understand who your partner is becoming.
ScreenRant:
I’d love to dissect the ending with you all. Nora, for starters, I know there’s no way you could have seen The Drama when you wrote this script, but the ending of the film, there was such a parallel of truly starting over. “Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Debs,” and I saw that.
Nora Kirkpatrick:
No, that’s so funny. I just saw The Drama. I was like, “Huh”. But it brings up a thought, and great, because I’m sure Kristoffer Borgli, I feel like that’s his name, was maybe also circling the same thought as in a long-term relationship, do you need to reintroduce yourself? Are you the same person you were when you met, as you are 10 years in? Probably not. And I feel like if you’re not consistently reintroducing yourself to your partner, that’s where, instead of running in parallel, you’re starting to float this way. So I feel like it’s perhaps a theme that a lot of people are circling when you’re dealing with long-term relationships.
Daddario, who plays Debs, believes the ending works very well because it avoids offering a definitive answer about whether staying together is the right thing to do. The actor described relationships as long and constantly evolving. She explained that sometimes love is less about certainty and more about the choices that people make regarding their partners.
Daddario said the takeway from her character’s decision wasn’t to just forgive the cheating. She said it also showcased how complicated real-life relationships can be. She further elaborated that people can deeply love one another while still questioning whether they should remain together. However, some couples may decide to keep trying even after infidelity because they are not emotionally ready to let go yet.
ScreenRant:
And Alexandra, for you specifically, it seems like Debs is giving her partner a second chance. Do you think that Debs made the right decision in the end?
Alexandra Daddario:
I think so. I think that it’s open-ended. Relationships are long, and you make all these stops and starts throughout a relationship, and love is a choice. And I think you never know what can happen over a long-term relationship, but sure, you’re not ready to leave until you’re ready, and you can still love someone and not be together, or want to try to make it work. And I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer to it.
Park, who portrays Melanie, brings up the significance of one of the film’s biggest conflicts, who kissed whom first. While the question dominates the movie’s second act, the actor believes the ending ultimately proves that the specifics of the betrayal matter less than what it represents and the emotional toll that it takes. She explained that viewers initially expect the cheating to completely destroy both couples. However, as the story unfolds, it becomes more of a trigger that forces the characters to confront deeper issues in their relationship that they had been avoiding.
ScreenRant:
Ashley, to come to you, does it really matter who kissed who first? Because it’s a big plot point throughout the second act.
Ashley Park:
I think what I love about it is that cheating or that kind of betrayal, we enter the story thinking it’s going to be, “This is catastrophic and devastating for both couples,” but really it ends up being the catalyst for all of them kind of facing themselves. And it kind of saves all four of them, but in different ways, but not necessarily about saving the marriage, but more about … just in watching it, what I gleaned from it this last time, was that Debs and Josh, Josh, the character, they’re hiding from each other and themselves what’s really going on inside. And I think that for Melanie and for Mitch, where we kind of find them is that they’ve never even found out who they are individually. They’ve found comfort in not being forced to discover that.
It’s not about the thing. I think all of it is about what it represents. It’s like when people cheat on each other, it’s not … Well, most of the time there’s something else that’s going on inside. And the fact that they’re trapped in this house and have to really investigate that with each other, when really, it’s much easier to run away, that’s where we get the boiling point in this story.