All I See Is You – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)
Despite Blake Lively’s usual charm, an uninspiring romance and the pursuit of being too artsy makes for a dull film. Director(s) Marc Forster Writer(s) Marc Forster, Sean Conway Noted Actors Gina Blake Lively James Jason Clarke Dr. Hughes Danny Huston Ramon Miquel Fernández Carla Ahna O’Reilly Lucy Kaitlin Orem Summary Since her early teens, Gina…
Spoiler Alert: This post may contain spoilers. Additionally, some images and text may include affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission or receive products if you make a purchase.
Despite Blake Lively’s usual charm, an uninspiring romance and the pursuit of being too artsy makes for a dull film.
| Director(s) | Marc Forster |
| Writer(s) | Marc Forster, Sean Conway |
| Noted Actors | |
| Gina | Blake Lively |
| James | Jason Clarke |
| Dr. Hughes | Danny Huston |
| Ramon | Miquel Fernández |
| Carla | Ahna O’Reilly |
| Lucy | Kaitlin Orem |
Summary
Since her early teens, Gina has been blind – after a tragic car accident. Something which, even in her later years, haunts her. Luckily, in her adult life, she has James. Someone she has been married to for an undisclosed number of years and who she lives with in Bangkok, Thailand. A place they live in after James gets a promotion at his insurance company.
Leading to the heart of the story: Thanks to Dr. Hughes, after decades of being blind in both eyes, Gina learns her sight can be restored in one. A process which is a success but has an unintended side effect – the insecurity of James. For as Gina begins changing her appearance, her clothes, wanting to change where they live, there comes the fear that Gina will want a new man too. Something her brother in law, Ramon, jokes about when they visit her sister Carla in Spain.
Thus giving us the drama aspect of the movie and the thriller portion dealing with whether or not James, in pursuit of calming his insecurities, did anything to reverse the effects of Gina’s surgery.
Question(s) Left Unanswered
- James is the one who got rid of the dog Gina adopted, right? Also, did he stage that break in?
Highlights
Lively’s Charm
As always with Lively, it is her charm which allows her to come away a bit unscathed despite the flaws of the production she is in. For, like seen in The Age of Adaline, there is this weird mastery of being like a porcelain doll which had been broken, yet put back together with the best intentions. Let me explain: There is this innate sadness that Lively possesses that constantly makes it seem she is exasperated but trying.
Making it so, with her often playing a love interest (I didn’t see The Shallows [External] to know if this thought applies to that move), she seems like the girlfriend or wife who gives you this sense that the relationship has long seen better days. On top of that, she herself knows that she could do better. However, because she believes in love so strongly, and the beginning of the relationship was so wonderful and romantic, she sticks it out.
Something we see when it comes to her and James’ relationship, especially after the eye surgery. There is this sense of loyalty when it comes to James but it is clear she isn’t necessarily over the moon when it comes to him. Which leads to their later marital issues.
Criticism
Living in Bangkok With Little To No Focus On The People
You know how some TV shows can be placed in diverse areas and not feature more than, maybe, a token minority? Well, in a similar fashion, despite most of the movie taking place in Thailand, be it neighbors, realtors, or doctors, Thai people are around, but there are less than a handful with speaking parts. Even the girl Gina dotes after, her neighbor Lucy, is a white girl.
On The Fence
The Romantic Drama
The driving force of the movie is supposed to be the changing dynamic between Gina and James. A couple who, because of Gina being blind, sort of worked. James was her husband and caretaker and with Gina reliant on him, things were in James’ favor. But, here is the thing, James doesn’t present himself as this loving husband with a cute relationship with his wife. What we more so get is this guy, likely the type Gina wouldn’t take a second glance at, who seemingly lucked out.
That attitude is what makes it hard to really feel bad for him as Gina starts changing. For, in my mind, we should feel bad for him since his wife is changing now that she has some sense of vanity. She is changing her clothes, look, wants to perhaps go out more, and can now see her other options. All of which feeds into James’ insecurities to the point you would feel bad for him if you didn’t begin to pick up that James is just some manipulative weirdo. Someone who seems like he watched Gina forever and with her being blind, he made his move since the main thing which kept him from winning over girls like her, his looks, was no longer an obstacle. So when he hears her talk about how he is different from what she imagined? Sees her getting cute? We more so see his dark side and his dweeb insecurities come about, the nice guy who never got the hot girl, versus him stepping up to be more than a sugar daddy (which I say since it isn’t made clear if Gina has a job, teaching and/or doing music, or whether that is simply a hobby).
Overall: Mixed (Divisive)
While Lively continues to be selective in her roles, and benefits from choosing a character which doesn’t present too much of a challenge or push for her, sadly the production as a whole doesn’t benefit much. For while her task as a wife is handled, when it comes to Clarke being the husband who you’d think would garner sympathy, instead he is written as a creep. One whose intentions are too thinly veiled and with there being so little reason to care about their relationship, even Gina cheating on James to a certain degree, it makes the nearly 2-hour runtime of this movie seem long.
Hence the mixed label for while fans of Lively will get what they came for, everything else about this movie may make you question if it was worth the price of admission. Especially as it decides to get very artsy, for no dang reason, and give us one of the least inspiring romances seen in a wide release for some time.
In the beginning I was surprised when Gina was saying it was not the same room, and he said it was the same room, when she found out she was right and he knew that too, she asked when he plan on telling her she was right, he said never. Think about that she was blind the first time she was there and now he wouldn’t tell her she was right. I found that very chilling and says a lot about him at that tell all moment.
Looks like. You and I were watching the same movie Marie.
Are you kidding Erica Danial was not a black man. LOL
Yes of course Gina could see at the end. After James realized Gina read that letter from the girl about the dog he ran out of the apartment to the school to see if his assumption was right that she could see him again. Gina”s eyes looked real clear and she looked straight into his eyes and sang that beautiful song to him It was then that he realized that Gina knew what he had done. James couldn’t cope with what he had done to her site and about the dog so he ran out of the school. James did not try to commit suicide he was crying so hard, coping with the rain storm, speeding and he couldn’t see the road and had a head on collision.
I just watched the movie on Demand tonight. I think she saved the dead bird because she said to the little kid that her and her sister use to save the feathers. James never told her about his low sperm count and he could never father a child. So, she didn’t know who was the father. Daniel didn’t have a key or anything. They had a quickie on the way to the front door while she was leaving his apartment with the dog after the dog overheated. That is the miracle of her getting pregnant. The Dr. didn’t say there was water in the drops bottles. He said there was an inconsistency with them and she needed to start using the samples correctly. Maybe just unsaid. I almost thought as she was singing on stage that she was staring at him and he could tell she could see. So he knows she was able to read the letter. I never thought James tied the dog up. No clue who the little girl was that had the dog. Don’t know why James killed himself. He wanted the baby even knowing not his. Maybe Daniel tied up the dog. When she tried calling Daniel, a woman answered and yelled she had wrong number. The bother-in-law was apparently an artist and was only able to paint by being naked and covered in the red paint. He didn’t come into the sisters naked, he had on a Mermaid dress. He was very strange. Odd the kid never mentioned the rotted animal he saw. I hate when movies end like that and no one knows the answers. It looked like she could see the baby when it came out. The baby looked just like Daniel. Didn’t need a rocket scientist to tell us who the baby daddy was. LOL The whole ending was strange. I’m glad I watched for free on Showtime Demand and didn’t have to waste my money. Just wasted my time. I liked the movie. Just those few open ended questions ruined it.
This is just my take on the movie. I know it’s old. But like I said, just saw it for first time. Never a Blake Lively fan.
I literally just got finished watching on Showtime Demand as well. This could have been a really good movie. I feel so unsatisfied and I would like my time back.
I think James tied the dog to the fence because he was jealous of how much time Gina was spending with the dog. Remember he told her she was spending too much time with the dog and not enough time on herself. Also, he staged their there apartment being broke into so it would look like someone took the dog. The apartment was trashed but nothing was taken except the dog was gone. Danial had nothing to do with taking the dog all he did was help Gina take care of her dog and I think he really liked Gina. If Danial would have seen the dog tied to the fence I believe he would have returned the dog to Gina. What bothered me the most is I wish Gina would have found Danial to tell him about the baby. I think Gina knew the baby was Danial’s and she was so dissappointed when he didn’t answer the phone. James was not able to climax because of his sexual dysfunction so I’m sure she knew the baby was Danial’s. Remember when she told James she was pregnant she showed no emotion in fact she looked a bit nervous a little uncomfortable about telling him. I wish they would make a sequel to this movie, “All I see is you” because I really like happy endings. It was happy for Gina to have her baby but why did she have to be alone when the baby was born and you’re right the baby looked just like Danial and he’ll never know he had a baby with Gina.
He tied the dog to the fence, because 1) he didn’t like it, 2) he was suspicious when she told the story about the guy with the dog and the dog licking the balls. Dance is just an incredibly insecure bizarre kind of person and control freak. Good night dynamic of control changed in their relationship, he couldn’t coop, and started spiraling more and more into insecurity.
But could she see at the end is all I want to know?
Her one night stand was a black man
Thanks, I guess that would kinda make sense, although I can’t imagine why, if she suspected what he was doing, she wouldn’t keep her drops WITH HER, in her purse or something. He could have discovered the ones under the sink much sooner and altered THOSE TOO! How would she know? They weren’t exactly “hidden” very well. I hate it when movies don’t make their intent clear and leave it up to all the viewers to come up with a theory. Everyone then has a different theory/idea, but no one really knows for sure.
I also saw Blake do an interview where she stated that she didn’t believe her character was disappointed with her husband after she was able to see him. She claims that when she said things like “You look different than I imagined” (in a VERY disappointed sounding way!!), that it didn’t mean better or worse, but literally just “different”. She says she made herself try to experience what things like this would be like when preparing for the role, and would go into places blindfolded (or whatever) and try to imagine what things looked like based on her other senses, and then she when she would actually see it, they were always DIFFERENT, but still just as wonderful or beautiful as she imagined, just different. I strongly disagree with her take and am shocked she would say that. If that’s true, the story was POORLY written!! She was CLEARLY disappointed with what she saw in him, and was much more intrigued with her new boyfriend and all things sexually perverted etc. Both characters had issues – James wasn’t helping things, as he was clearly insecure and knew she could do much better than him, and that led to many problems. But still, he loved her (even if in selfish ways often) and took care of her in so many ways when she was blind and not many others would have, and for Gina to then act the way she did after she could suddenly see, and to start drawing away from him out of vanity is just sad. He wasn’t THAT bad looking, and if someone truly loves another person, looks shouldn’t matter. What if someone has an accident and is disfigured etc? Is their partner so vain and shallow they would stop loving them????? When Gina was blind, the relationship MUST have developed purely from conversation and getting to know each other that way, but in this movie, suddenly after Gina can see, both people act as if they have no communication skills whatsoever!! They didn’t get to know each other in the first place, fall in love, ENOUGH TO GET MARRIED, by not knowing how to TALK to each other. Yet we’re supposed to believe all that just disappeared as soon as she could SEE?
As far as I see it. He found the drops that she had been taking without him knowing as she must have suspected he was messing with drops after she went to see the specialist. She then had the baby and was rid of him. At the end I see her looking and able to see her child. She was on to him
This movie was so confusing and unclear. So many questions unanswered. HOW DO WE KNOW it was James that took the dog??? Everyone says that as a foregone conclusion, but the only “bone” we get tossed at us to give us any clues is the letter Gina gets, and whoever writes the letter simply says he saw the “WHITE GUY” tie the dog to a fence. ???? James in not the only whte guy! Gina’s new boyfriend is white also, and he is always walking HIS dog in the park as well. And half the other people you see around are white, which in itself is bizarre since they are in Thailand. But how do we really know who took the dog then based just on the letter? And when did James have time to TAKE the dog?? Gina had JUST been out with the dog in the park and then comes home and the apartment was broken into. James came in and broke into his own apt and did all that stuff, made all that noise, and NO ONE SAW HIM ENTER OR LEAVE his apt or the building when he should have been at work??????? NO ONE???
WTF was up with putting a dead bird in the freezer?? WTF was the dead corpse supposed to mean when the boy saw it near the tunnel? Why was Gina singing mostly a solo at a young girls school talent show?? What was the song supposed to mean? All I see is you – was that a POSITIVE or NEGATIVE Thing? Like now that I want more and know how beautiful and vain I am, I look at what I’ve married and “all I see is YOU”; OR, is it that she truly supposedly loves him (even though you would NEVER guess it from the way she treats him, looks at him, talks to him, or CHEATS on him), and that in that sense, she is everything to him – “All I see is you”. Which is it? How would singing that song make James realize how much she STILL loves him, when he knows she cheated, can barely stand to be around him, wants so much more than him? Is it supposed to indicate how much she USED to love him, when she was blind? (since presumably the song had been written back during that time)?
If James was the one that messed with the drops, what was it that he found at the end hidden down under the sink in a box, and why was he staring at the bottles as if HE was the one that just discovered something evil or bizarre?????? And what was he DOING to the drops? “There were “Inconsistencies” with them, what does that mean? WTF??? He wasn’t a chemist, and they showed him going to pharmacy place to have them refilled. If he was just adding water, wouldn’t they SAY THAT???? “Hey, these eye drop bottles are filled with WATER!” ?????
What was the letter on the floor at the end, was that the same letter Gina found? What did it mean to JAMES??? How would that prove to Gina that it was JAMES that tied the dog to a fence???? And HOW would the person who found the dog know who Gina was, where she lived etc, to mail a letter??? If he lived nearby, people would see and recognize the dog!! If he didn’t live nearby, HOW THE F___ would he know the address to send a letter to???
Dude do you even know how to watch a movie ? For one he didn’t drop off her eye drop at the pharmacy that was his semen sample. Two he was filling them up with water, which was VERY obvious. When Gina answered a phone call from her sister there were TWO eye drop bottles on top of the sink one empty one full. When she can back after James had been to bathroom and picked up the empty dropper, that same dropper was now filled to the top. Not that hard to catch. Furthermore when he finds the samples hidden in the bathroom his face is like that because he knows she knows he messed with the dropper. The letter is the same letter they are both written in crayon and he even reads it. His reaction tells you he’s the one he even says fuck at one point. You really need to watch movies more carefully dude these were just obvious
So does she regain her sight by the end of the movie??? After Finding out James was sabotaging her drops??
Thank you enforcer jj.
It’s nice to see I’m not the only one ‘seeing’ that blaming him for her actions is ridiculous. He may have been uneasy with her change, and who wouldn’t? But she flat out acted like an ass. Everyone talks a big game, but if your spouse did a 180 like she did, they’d be confused and worried too. Regardless of what they say.
I’m confused as to what movie people watched. Because the one I saw, he stayed with her while she was pregnant,,,, WITH ANOTHER MANS KID. Yea, what a bad guy. She and she alone is responsible for her cheating/actions. No one MAKES you cheat. That tells you what and who she is right there.She cheated. Period. Because the scene where the empty bottle is suddenly filled could mean anything. They don’t bother to try and explain. Is it his responsibility to put out a new bottle when one is empty? Considering they ARE married, and considering SHE CAN’T FREAKIN SEE,,Is it possible she WANTS him to get the correct bottle? I would think if your taking medications, but your eyesight is poor, you would HOPE that your spouse would handle it. I also agree that when he was reading the letter, it looked like he was not acting guilty, but more surprised.
Lastly, why is no one asking about weirdo dog walker guy? This piece of sh.. has no problem sleeping with a married woman. But because girls think he’s cuter, he gets a
pass? Did he get her key when they slept together? Did HE brake into the apartment?
I’ll believe that before the husband every time.
At first I thought it was Daniel who broke into the apartment and taking the dog. I also thought he wrote the ‘kid’ letter to it meaning about his feelings toward Gina and their affair. But then he disappeared and she ended up having the baby alone. I think his only purpose in this movie was to prove Gina wanted to explore herself and not be tied down to her marriage but also felt a sense of loyalty toward her husband for being her caretaker.
Why did the letter look like it was written by a child? Narrated by a man. Who was that? Why did the baby look black and white. Daniel was white. And Daniel may never know he has a baby. Oh boy I could have written the middle and ending better. Iiked a lot about it. Now I feel cheated.
(1) Seeing two dead corpse represents the completion of two significant changes and/or transitions. The two corpse were intended for the (movie) viewers rather than the characters, themselves. It was telling us Gina’s vision had altered her perception about her new life and what she wanted. The morgue temporarily stores dead bodies in a cooler/freezer, so putting the bird in the freezer had no significance other than telling the viewers the dead bird itself had a meaning.
(2) Thailand is a high tourist attraction and I saw a lot of locals in the movie.. the market people, the neighbour, James’ doctor, the child Gina was teaching .. all locals.
(3) The boyfriend was not a “white” guy. He was ethnic and so was their baby, which proved to Gina her baby was conceived with him. James hadn’t told her he was infertile.
(4) James found the hidden box with the eyedrop “samples” her doctor strictly advised Gina to use (instead of eyedrops from his prescription). James learned she no longer was using the ones in the cabinet and ran to the school to see if she could see again. At her school performance, he saw her looking at him and her lyrics told him she knew what was happening but still loved him. It’s irrelevant that she stole her student’s spotlight. It was more a message to the viewers that she had clarity about what was going on and told him so through her lyrics. This realization upset him because he loved her as a blind wife, due to his own insecurities, which showcased itself throughout the movie. He couldn’t handle her beauty attracting men and felt her blindness would deter them.
(5) In the end, Gina takes off her wedding band because the truth was out and he couldn’t handle it. Did she write the letter, herself? Gina said ‘blue’ was her favourite colour and the ink was written in blue crayon. James may have understood this, concluding the ‘dog’ represented his ‘wife’ whom he no longer could control. He knew she was impregnated by another man and despite the boyfriend flaking out at the end and her loyalty to her husband, he believed she desired to be with someone else.
TRUTH I see: Blake Lively does NOTHING: for every excuse for a movie she just stands there, mumbling- the movie is about NOTHING: her character does NOTHING. narcissism is insulting to all viewers. HOW DARE the ethnocentric egocentric lingocentric shallow plastic surgery worshippers for surgerIES to look WHITER force viewers to pay and to waste life time looking at this mysogenistic NOTHING. plastic surgery is NOT acting. no 1 would marry trash lifestyle blind doing nothing all day contributing nothing except selfishness procreating showing off plastic surgery. No1 would be friends w that garbage lifestyle except Blake Lively’s superficial entourage worshipping her plastic surgeries blinking as acting. the blind character is a monster: cheating wasting her days away, hogging a solo @ a child’s school show for the child, refrigerating birds in a hiding out way, sicko not even thinking about her man while screwing nutjob selfish… reminds me of some1… what worldly cause has BL lifted a finger for lately?
Movie was predictable. You knew she was gonna be pregnant once she cheated.He is the lowest of scam to tamper with the drops but let’s be honest she cheated on him before she found out he did that.They both deserve each other.A cheater and a wacko.
OK so her husband tampered with her eye drops so SHE WOULD GO BLIND AGAIN? She let’s him think it has worked (SINCE HER DR. TOLD HER THE DROPS WERE TAMPERED WITH) until he realizes she is faking it when he finds the samples she used instead. The extremes he will go to to keep her dependent on him are far beyond normal behavior and yet she stays with him anyway. That’s love. If you are nuts. Then he gets rid of the dog and when she finds out that he did it she is done. LORD HAVE MERCY! It’s ok to let her go blind again but DO NOT GET RID OF MY DOG! Yes, he see’s the dog as a threat because the frenchie helped her meet OTHER PEOPLE SHE MIGHT SLEEP WITH (AND DID). I think I am getting a headache.
It has been a really long time since I saw the movie, but I do think she tried to understand him being malicious and insecure. However, with hurting the dog it becomes clear that he isn’t just some sad and insecure man who clearly can’t handle their dynamic changing but he is dangerous beyond the benefit of the doubt she might have been giving him.
See I think she tried to understand until she discovered that he had hurt her first “baby” as she called the dog. Up til then she felt guilty about cheating and wasn’t sure if it was his or if she could manage with her eyes. plus she didn’t know for sure if he changed them only that she suspected. That’s when she left the drugs at the house. She wanted to test how he would react and she loved him so she didn’t want to believe it. When she realized that he could hurt the dog she realized yeah he did do it and if he could hurt the dog he could hurt the baby. I don’t think she was singing alone at the show but rather for him the girls voice faded and all he heard was her voice from the duet, and I wasn’t sure at the end if her message was I use to see only you but now I’ll only see my baby or whether she was singing that nkw she could see him clearly.
What is the ending of the movie mean?? Did James kill himself?
I don’t understand the ending either! Did he kill himself on purpose?And why did he sob and run out when she was singing?
When she sings he understands that she loved him before the surgery and still after even knowing what he did (drops, dog, overall lack of stepping up his game). So he gets immersed with guilt and remorse that is why he sobs. Then the crash is an accident. He gets blinded (!) by his tears. That is how I understand the ending.
I took the ending as … he couldn’t bear that another man could do what he couldn’t .. give her a child.
If this was real life and James sabotaged his wife’s vision, no he’s not petty, he is a vicious, vile monster who needs to be locked up and kept completely away from women, forever. Unfortunately it is not even slightly shocking that a man would consider the horrific assault of a woman by a man – even if in a movie – to be petty behaviour. And I never felt the slightest bit of pity for him. He was a controlling creep.
Reading it over, changes were made since the sentence, in regards to James’ actions being petty, definitely were an inappropriate word choice – all things considered.