Sounds Like Love is the story of Maca (Maria Valverde) and her friends, Adriana (Susana Abaitua) and Jimena (Elisabet Casanovas), and how all three face their pasts to move on. Basically, it’s everyone’s story from the perspective of Maca. And the best part? Friends, as always.
‘Sounds Like Love’ Plot Summary
Maca
Maca, 29, is trying to be a “bad person.” Her boss is Pipa (a famous influencer) who always has a condescending tone no matter what she speaks. This tests her patience, unlike anything. But this is not something that she cares much about. The reason for her trying to become a “bad person” is Leo (Alex Gonzalez), who just vanished without a word after being with her for five years. But that’s not the worst part. Maca is slowly learning to move on as we all do in such a situation.
The worst part is that Maca’s friend Raquel is dating Leo. So, on the one hand, she is trying to forget him, and on the other, she meets him time and again. Moving on gets more demanding and more painful as she begins to believe that Leo has simply moved on. This further adds to her pain. Revenge takes over, but as expected, it works like salt on burnt skin.
Adriana
Content that she is asexual, Adriana decides to remain quiet despite experiencing a lack of physical attraction towards her husband, Julian. However, after sharing a bed with a woman and her husband, she realizes that she is as much attracted to the woman more than she is to her husband. She begins to live this double life where at home she is trying to have a baby with her husband, and outside she is having an affair with the woman she and her husband had got intimate with. She gives in to “complicating my life” without thinking about the consequences it may or may not lead to.
Jimena
The supernatural of the trio, Jimena, leaves no stone unturned to bring back the love of his life, Santi from the dead. She looks for him or instead signs of his presence in other boys, be it on social media or outdoors. So much so that even when she really starts to like a guy, Samuel, a physiotherapist, she disregards him since he has nothing in common with Santi.
The Bubbles
Each of the three leading ladies of the movie is living in her bubble. For Maca, it is the fact that she has moved on from Leo. For Adriana, it is that she is happy with her husband. For Jimena, it is that she will find Santi or, rather, his reincarnation. And the movie, for the most part, moves ahead in Maca’s POV. We see her actions and reactions.
Maca’s Past
The tumult inside her from the fact that Leo has turned up again is made evident through her repeated thoughts that revolve around Leo, be it when they planned to shift for the new apartment, when he left for his internship or anything else. Her words, “You don’t have to settle for this just because you said I do,” to Adriana is her mind’s way of trying to convince herself that she has come out of her cave. We see this yet again when she explains to the woman who is trying out her wedding dress where Adriana works. When the woman gets worried over her dress not fitting and it being an issue for his to-be husband, Maca explains how if this is an issue for him, she might as well find someone else.
There are two other versions of Maca that are always at odds with one another, which is clearly shown in the movie. One is the career-oriented Maca, who is bent upon her career and believes she has to do what needs to be done. The other is the insecure Maca, who is troubled by the fact that Leo is back in her life.
Adriana’s Present
Adriana, too, hides her affair from Maca and Jimena because she still believes her life belongs with her Julian. However, Maca finds Adriana and the woman kissing. Yet, after that, when the three ladies met, Adriana didn’t say anything. Maca, who has dealt with heartbreak, probably doesn’t want Julian to feel the same. This is clearly visible by her reactions when Adriana mentions that she and Julian have decided to have a baby.
Jimena’s Future
Jimena is looking for a guy who is a reincarnation of his dead lover Santi (he died 11 years ago). She will stop at nothing to find him, trying all sorts of “supernatural” ways from the world over to contact him. When it seems to go beyond understanding, Maca and Adriana hire an actor, Jorge, who will carry the traits of Santi just like Jimena wishes for. He would first woo Jimena and then call it off. This will make it straightforward for her that Santi is no more in her life in any way.
‘Sounds Like Life’ Ending, Explained
While the name of the movie is Sounds like Love, the story is one of life and how, in the end, it’s all about letting go. Leo ends up expressing how much he has missed Maca. Adrianna realizes that she doesn’t want to be with Julian. And Jimena finds out that Jorge is an actor hired by her two best friends to make her forget Santi. Realizations aren’t what we expect most of the times. It is just as Thomas Hardy stated at the end of his acclaimed novel The Mayor of Casterbridge: “…happiness was but the occasional episode in a general drama of pain.” Yet life goes on.
Maca’s words to Adriana while getting a tattoo, “Nothing hurts as much as when you feel weak when you are really not,” prove that it’s all in the heart. It’s because we feel that we are so no matter the circumstances. In the end, the movie, if we were to borrow Yann Martel’s words from Life of Pi, “…in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go. But what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye” Maca, Adriana, and Jimena do let go of their inhibitions.
Maca breaks up with Leo for her job in Paris, letting go of her love for him, which she never got in return. Adriana told Julian about her affair and moved in with the woman. And Jimena left Santi and decided to get together with Samuel, whom she had previously taken a liking to. And all three do take their moments to say goodbye, Maca to Leo, Adriana to Julian, and Jimena to Jorge. In this way, they avoid the “hurt” part and move to what indeed, Sounds like Love.
P.S- We are much more than the right or wrong choices that we make, and that we made it this far together
Sounds Like Love is a 2021 Romantic Comedy film directed by Juana Macías. It is streaming on Netflix.
