Since the pandemic hit, Netflix has embraced streaming-platform film releases, with The Weekend Away following a similar pattern. The film has suffered relatively low fan ratings on sites such as Rotten Tomatoes but seems to have fascinated droves of social media fans.
The Weekend Away follows a European getaway by two friends that takes a murderous turn. Beth (Leighton Meester) faces accusations that she killed her best friend Kate (Christina Wolfe). She vows to find the culprit, and the answers she seeks bring her ever close to home. Determined to exonerate herself and honor Kate, Beth discovers the bitter truth.
The Weekend Away is based on a fictional book by Sarah Alderson
The Weekend Away is based on a fictional book with the same name by Sarah Alderson. The writer helped write the screenplay for the film. She told Not Quite Susie Homemaker that it gave her the chance to incorporate her favorite bits in the movie.
“That’s the joy of being able to adapt your own work is being able to do that,” Alderson said. Sarah added that when she wrote The Weekend Away – and when writing other books – she wrote it with a film adaptation in mind. Alderson explained:
“I always hope that I can eventually adapt my books. I write them very much with that in mind. I’m lucky because I’m a screenwriter as well, so I think the craft of that feeds into how I write my books – so when I was writing the book I was thinking, ‘Okay, this is how it would work as a movie.’”
Sarah said that she got the inspiration for the book during a trip with a friend to Lisbon. “While we were there I was like what would happen if Nicola went missing?” she said. Nicola didn’t go missing, but Sarah followed that train of thought, eventually writing The Weekend Away.
“That’s not to say they are the same person at all, but I tend to take elements of my friends in terms of physical descriptions more than personality,” Sarah clarified.
The ending in the film differs from the book
*Spoilers ahead!* In the book and film, Beth discovers that her husband, Rob, killed Kate after they had an affair. In the book, Rob escapes with the couple’s daughter.
However, in the movie, Beth calls the police, who arrest Rob after confessing to the crime, but lying that Kate wanted the pair to get back together.
In truth, he pushed Kate off a cliff after she rejected him. Rob claims that she assumed Kate was dead after hitting the rocks, but he left her to drown.
Meester told Newsweek that the different ending gave the story a ‘newer meaning.’ She explained:
“I think the other part of it that makes it more cinematic is the tension [between Rob and Beth] but then also truly this sort of undercurrent of tension with the police, and in general, anybody that Beth interacts with, that makes her feel like she has to scream, to be heard and to be listened to and believed.”
Also Read: The Weekend Away Parents Guide — Why is it inappropriate for the younger audience?