And suddenly, an ending seen dozens of times, changes. It also happens with the covers of some books and their stories; with old scenes in which the smoke made it difficult to recognize the faces well. Or the stretches of sex that could be interpreted in a controversial way. It also happened with Noa's diary, perhaps one of the best-known contemporary romances in cinema.
The kiss between Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling is part of many people's pop culture. Through them, El Diario de Noa told the story of a love that transcends difficulties, the passage of time and that even clings to itself when death appears in the doorway. All this did not arouse criticism, at the time.
But nowadays it can be seen as romantic love not so convenient. Several sections of the film could be recognized as toxic attitudes, depending on who watches it; others, perhaps, will only assume them as scenes typical of sentimental relationships: tension is part of coexistence. It may be that this conflict between the present and past visions is what motivated the ending of Noa's Diary in the United Kingdom to be different from that of the original production.
Noa's Diary and its end: what happened?
The film was released during the year 2004, almost twenty years ago. Between its launch and the present, different perspectives in relation to artistic creation and content are in question. At that time, and perhaps to this day, El Diario de Noa ended with the protagonists embracing each other on a bed, inviting the viewer to think that they were dying together.
Taking into account the whole story, in which they go from being a love of summer to a love of life, it resonates with the composed story. A license of the work, beyond the fact that this production is based on the homonymous book written by Nicholas Sparks. However, this ending, key within the production and perhaps within the romantic cinema of these years, was altered.
According to information from Collider, Netflix UK is offering an alternate version of that ending. How is? The camera leaves with a shot of birds flying away over a lake. Beyond the effect it may have on viewers who want to see the film again, who may miss it, it also influences the new audience: it is not the original ending and, therefore, the work changes.
A possible explanation
In times of cancellation and a review of the past that in many cases is done with the intention of altering it, according to current criteria, ignoring the moment in which the work was produced, it may be that the alteration of the end of El Diario de Noa responds to that trend. The death of the protagonists could be understood as a kind of toxic love, which goes to the point that, with the excuse of that love, both end up annulling their individuality. Another feasible reading is that love and relationships go beyond perceptible issues, when in reality it is convenient to see them in a less idyllic way.
Being a film that can attract a young audience, it is valid to suspect that an ending of this style may seem abrupt. However, denying everyone's destiny, death, before an act of protection is a gesture of stupidity. Even beyond these interpretations, the intervention of a work, beyond its quality and the preferences that may be held about it, is to intervene on a creative process developed at a specific moment, responding to that time or to the conceptual interests of the involved. With the feeling that El Diario de Noa will not be the last victim.
