 Just cuz some cute girl likes the same bizarre crap you do? That doesn't make her your soulmate though. 500 days of summer is not a love story, but a story about love. A failed love. A story about learning how to love oneself and why it is important to love oneself. It is also a story about fate and separation. Before we get into these themes, let's take a look at the movie as a whole first. The first thing to take note of is that this film is not linear in its storytelling. It jumps back and forth between the beginning, middle, and end of the relationship between Tom and Summer. Highlighting key events in their relationship, like the first time they met or their first conversation, alongside many more. The movie takes us through their story from beginning to end. The story of Tom Hansen and Summer Finn. So, as it opens, the narrator quickly introduces us to the why of the story, which will be vital for the later portions of the film. Tom Hansen of Margate, New Jersey grew up believing that he'd never truly be happy until the day he met the one. And meanwhile, Summer Finn was the complete opposite. Summer Finn of Shinnecock, Michigan did not share this belief. Since the disintegration of her parents' marriage, she'd only loved two things. With this introduction, the film takes us to day 290 of 500, after their breakup. Like the narrator states, it is not a love story. After this introduction, this film shows us that not only will their relationship end, but it will have a profound impact on Tom. So it begins, a journey through the relationship of Tom and Summer. The first important stop in their journey for me was at the bar on day 28. Where Summer establishes her idea of relationships. She doesn't feel like she needs a boyfriend or a relationship. And she is not interested in one, reaffirming the why from her introduction. And Summer also says this. There's no such thing as love, it's fantasy. Tom replies by saying, I think you know when you feel it. A line that stands as a theme for this movie. And so by the end of the night, Summer shows a liking towards Tom. And this is realized later on when they share a kiss in the copy room, days later at work. It is important to keep in mind that the first time Tom saw Summer, he believed that she was the one. And this idea would carry him through the movie. And so for the next half hour, we are taken through the great highs of their newfound bond. Where they would spend a lot of time together. With a highlight towards specific places. Ikea, the music store, the movies, the bar. All places that would have a duality to them in terms of their importance to the story. These places represent good and later will embody the bad. We are also taken through their intimate moments. Like Tom entering Summer's home and her telling him about her dreams for the first time. And the one glaring issue that is weighing on Tom is the label or the status of their relationship. Them being boyfriend and girlfriend. But Summer is firm in her statement from the bar. She doesn't want their connection to be labeled. As she states that she's having fun. However after their bar incident again alluding to the duality of these places. Tom gets into a fight with another man who makes rude comments about Tom and Summer. And Tom gets angry at the idea that they are not quote on quote together. Or a couple. Again forgetting Summer's initial desire. Moving forward the movie takes us to the later days of their relationship. In the 300s to be more precise. A time after Summer and Tom broke up. Tom goes on a date with another girl. But Tom tells the girl up front about how he isn't over Summer. And he says this line. I know that she's the only person in the entire universe that would make me happy. Once again reaffirming Tom's belief from his introduction. So Tom attends the wedding of a former colleague in an attempt to win Summer back. And essentially he does. They spend the entire train ride and the entire wedding together. Laughing and drinking. Recalling their time spent together. And this drives her to invite him to her place for a party that she's having. And this creates one of the best scenes in the movie. Tom's expectation versus his reality. He expects them to interact just as they did at the wedding. But instead it is spent with Tom being alone for most of the night. The same night he finds out that Summer is engaged. A realization that sent Tom spiraling into depression. And that is vocalized by his final monologue at work. And I want to hone in on what I believe to be the most important part of Tom's monologue. People should be able to say how they feel. How they really feel. Not some words that some strangers put in their mouths. Love that don't mean anything. The thing here is that while the message is true, I felt that in this movie specifically, people have been saying what they felt. Summer from day 28 has stated exactly how she felt. Maybe not why she felt it, but she did express her feelings many times. And those feelings were not love. Not once was she quote unquote in love. But Tom was too blinded by his idea of love to see it. The entire film is seen from Tom's perspective. What Tom remembers as the best moments in their relationship. What Tom recalls as the worst. It is about how Tom perceived everything Summer said in a specific way. About how Tom perceived everything Summer did in relation to his idea. That he constructed in his own mind. The film even takes us through Tom's head and what his ideas of love are compared to Summer's. We learn that Tom grew up watching lots of movies. And this greatly influenced his perception of how love should be expressed or of how relationships are made and defined. Tom fighting another guy at the bar is his idea of chivalry. His idea of love. Tom had the thought that two people who may share a connection with each other are two people that should be together. That coupled with Tom's ego and selfishness led him to hold on to this relationship as long as he did. Because this was his idea of what love should have been. This idea of this lifelong chase in the name of love. This selfishness led him to a feeling of entitlement towards Summer and her love. You can't force anyone to do or to feel anything. Especially not for someone to love. You do not own any person either or their emotions. The only thing you can do is give someone your all without regrets, like Tom did. And unfortunately, she just didn't love him back. Tom believed that in order for himself to be completed for Tom to be at Tom's best was to have someone else by his side. An idea that was challenged throughout the movie mostly by Summer. Someone else cannot define you and your sole purpose in life will not be in another person. You are an individual and trying to find someone else to quote-unquote complete you will leave you empty, like Tom. Which was why it was necessary for Summer to leave him. And which is why when Summer left him, he broke. His entire life was spent believing that he needed her to find true happiness. So Tom had no choice but to find himself in what he wanted. He left his job to return to architecture. Tom built himself back up and developed into the person we see at the end of the film. Not a perfect person, but a work in progress. By the end of the movie, the narrator says the following. There's no such thing as fate. Nothing is meant to be. Sorry, um, I just left, uh, can I... He was pretty sure. So while Tom stopped believing in fate, I do think he understood in this moment about what fate is and about what is meant to be and also about separation. Tom's relationship with Summer was a learning point for both parties. For Tom, he understood a few things. When Summer told him that she wasn't interested in a relationship, he should have truly thought about what that meant for him going forward and about attachment. Something he would later learn about himself. Tom likes labels and he is easily attached. He would also learn that he is not entitled to anything from anyone. Regardless of how much he did with Summer, about how many intimate moments they shared, he is not entitled to a relationship. Unless agreed upon by both parties and he cannot control how she feels about him. Summer simply learned one thing from their interaction and this was that Tom was not the one, something that she seemed to already know from the beginning and their growing partnership would simply further confirm this belief. So it was meant to be that Tom and Summer would fall into what is not love but would share a special and unique bond with each other, something that no one else can take from them. But they were meant to meet each other and to learn about themselves with each other, nothing else. And fate would pull them apart as quickly as she pushed them together so that they may move on with their lives and not be consumed with this relationship. 500 days of Summer truly highlights the beauty in separation because there is in fact beauty in separation. There is warmth in it. In some cases, people are only meant to be with each other for a certain amount of time. To learn less about each other but to learn more about themselves, possibly to understand how they express love or their love language and where their compatibility may actually lie. It is okay to love and it is also okay to fall out of love, like Tom and Summer. 500 days of Summer is not a love story but a story about love. 500 days of Summer is a story about fate and about how falling out of love and separation is all meant to be. My name is Tom. Nice to meet you. I'm Autumn.