MovieChat Forums > (500) Days of Summer (2009) Discussion > Did the two romantic relationships overl...

Did the two romantic relationships overlap?

posted 9 years ago by loveorjustacrush
3 replies | jump to latest

I really loved this film, and I honestly feel that both of the leads had faults that contributed to the demise of their relationship. Tom idealized what he had with Summer, and he idealized Summer herself. He also never admitted to her outright that he fell in love with her. It seemed obvious to me that she knew it, but I wish he would have been strong enough to actually tell her how he felt about her. Summer was at fault for leading Tom on the way that she did, knowing full well that he had deeper feelings for her than she did for him. She should have ended things much sooner once she realized that Tom was not the right guy for her (i.e. "the one"), and that she really wasn't into him. It would have been the decent thing to do. Therefore, I think they both had a part in the downfall of their connection.

With that being said, I am confused on one very key point: Did Summer's relationship with the blond guy at her party that she later ended up marrying overlap with her relationship with Tom? I wasn't sure about that because their subsequent conversation after her party was kind of vague and evasive in its wording, and their body language was very stilted.

If there was, in fact, an overlap, i am even more disgusted with the way Summer treated Tom.

This site does offer this in the FAQ's for the film, but there is no direct answer on the matter:

Q: Did Summer meet her husband while she was dating Tom?

A: There's no evidence to suggest this and it would seem to run counter to Summer's character that she would be carrying on an affair behind Tom's back. The only reason some people seem to think this is because of the timeline. Tom and Summer break up on day 290 and she is married by day 488 a mere six months later. Many people seem to think that this is too quickly for Summer to have met someone else and gotten married. However, while the trend now is for engagements to last for an extensive period and for people to date or even live together for years before getting engaged, some people do get married shortly after meeting someone. This is, perhaps, in keeping with the movie's themes about love. Once Summer has encountered a man she truly loves she knows it and there's no reason for her to wait an extended period before solemnizing that love through marriage.

Does anyone know one way or the other? What do you theorize?

[–] todkay 9 years ago

I thought that by day 488 Summer was still just engaged, not yet married.

[–] Dollhouse_89 8 years ago

No she married him on day 488. They showed her preparing on her wedding day in a split screen montage with Tom going on job interviews. She was already married when she saw him in the park that last time just before he met Autumn on day 500.

[–] catbookss 9 years ago

I'm glad he never told Summer he was in love with her, that preserved whatever little dignity he had left, which was little.

No, I don't think there was any interlap between Tom and meeting her husband, and while that's better than if there hadn't been, I can't let her off the hook. She knew Tom was in love with her and that she wasn't in love with him. Yes, Tom had his flaws as well, which contributed to their relationship falling apart, but ultimately it was Summer's dishonesty and insensitivity that caused the problem between them, culminating in inviting Tom to her party, without letting him know she was engaged.