“Love, Divided” (original title, “Pared con pared”) is a new romantic comedy movie written by Marta Sanchez and directed by Patricia Font. It stars Aitana Ocaña Morales as Valentina and Fernando Guallar as David. This movie is a remake of the 2015 movie “Blind Date”. It revolves around the lives of two neighbours, one a pianist and the other a silence-loving inventor and their journey of adjusting to each other and finding love on the way. “Love, Divided” is available to watch on Netflix!
Plot Summary
Valentina, played by Aitana, is an anxious and tense pianist who has moved into a new apartment after breaking up with her boyfriend. Her cousin helps her get a job at a coffee house but Valentina only thinks of her piano audition. David, her neighbour, is an agoraphobic inventor who requires silence in order to work. Initially they bother one another through the thin walls but later become friends and rearrange their apartments so as to sleep closer. Valentina was pushed into playing the piano by her ex while David encouraged her to take up singing and composing. At the audition, she gathers the courage to play one of her own songs after failing to play Beethoven, which impresses the judges. With the newfound courage she is finally ready to see David and take things ahead.
Let us delve into the whole romance in detail!
Valentina moves into her new apartment
In the beginning, we are introduced to Valentina, an aspirational pianist, who is trying to move her piano into her apartment. It is revealed that she used to live with her ex-boyfriend, Óscar, before moving into her new apartment. Her cousin and best friend, Carmen, helps her move in and gets her a job at a smoothie bar, much to her chagrin.
Then, we are introduced to David, an introverted game inventor who lives in the apartment beside Valentina’s with his cat. His only friend, Nacho, brings him essentials from time to time, as David rarely goes out of his house, which is also his office, where he constantly experiments and tries to invent new games. David tells Nacho how there’s a new tenant who has moved in and how they won’t last long in the apartment like the ones before. Nacho gets frustrated and tells him to go out, move on, and do things differently.
Why does Valentina run away on her first night at the apartment?
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On her first night at the apartment, Valentina brushes her teeth and starts singing when suddenly she hears loud sounds from one of the walls. Terrified, she calls Carmen but can’t reach her. As the sounds increase, she runs to her ex-boyfriend’s apartment and stays for the night. He calls her his “hummingbird” and persuades her to come back to his apartment. However, she’s resolute in her decision to live independently.
Valentina and David meet
The next morning, she goes back to her building and asks an old tenant if he heard any loud noises the night before. The man scares her by telling her of a man who died in his bathtub and that the sound is his ghost. However, he starts laughing as if it were a joke. Valentina goes back to her apartment and talks to the wall to be quiet multiple times. She figures out that it’s a tenant and also hears his cat. David, unable to hide his presence anymore, says hi.
She asks him why he wants to scare her. He answers that the wall between their two apartments is extremely thin, and even a glass of water pouring can be heard on the other side. David had tried to solve this problem but couldn’t as the other tenants refused to comply. David reveals that their apartments are not even in the same building (or even in the same district!) due to a structural anomaly.
He makes it clear that he needs silence (probably the reason why he was trying to scare her) for his work, but Valentina replies that she’s a pianist and needs to practise. She offers to set up a schedule, but he declines and says that one of them needs to leave, and since he came there first, he wouldn’t be the one leaving. She replies that it took a lot for her to be there, so she wouldn’t be leaving. Thus, a war starts between the two neighbours.
How do Valentina and David annoy each other?
David wakes up at odd hours and starts making noise using his machines while Valentina aggressively plays her piano. This goes on for days; however, when it seems like the sleep-deprived Valentina has too much of it, she brings in a secret weapon—her metronome. A metronome is a device, used by musicians, that works by constantly ticking. The sound of the metronome drives David crazy, and he caves into a deal about setting schedules, even forcefully agreeing to give the mornings to Valentina.
How do the two come close to each other?
After an intense argument with David, Valentina apologizes, and the two get to know each other. David reveals that he’s a game designer who is working on his game, The Ultimax, and Valentina reveals that she wants to perform in concerts as a pianist. The two spent the whole night talking.
How do Valentina and David come into a relationship?
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After making a blunder by inviting the wrong guy into her apartment, whom she thought was David, Valentina is overcome with defeat. David, too, after a frustrating day where Nacho takes him to a toy store to sell his inventions, is just tired and fed up and decides not to go outside for a long time. The two confess that they like each other and, oddly, decide to continue a relationship by talking through the wall but never meeting.
The two push their beds up to the walls and spend days and nights getting to know each other, their likes and dislikes, eating, drinking, and waking up at the same time. They get closer, and David encourages her to sing and play the music she herself composed instead of playing classical music.
What happens on the date?
The two decide to have a date night. They make an effort to dress up and cook dinner at the same time. While David is a good cook, Valentina is not, and she screws up her lasagna. Both are surprised by guests at the same time. Nacho visits David, while Carmen visits Valentina. Both Nacho and Valentina are shocked to see this odd relationship through the wall. The four sit down and have a funny interaction.
“Love, Divided” Ending Explained
Valentina signs up for the audition and meets Óscar afterwards. She invites him over to her apartment to judge her play. David is annoyed by Óscar’s presence and quips sarcastically at his remarks. Óscar tries to get close to Valentina and again persuades her to come back to his apartment. Valentina abruptly tells him to go, and right after, she has an argument with a jealous David.
The next day, she shares her frustrations with Carmen and her boss. While Valentina is working, Carmen takes a man to Valentina’s empty apartment without telling her to get intimate. David hears noises and misunderstands, thinking that it is Valentina. Valentina comes home and finds David, oddly, at a distance. She finds Carmen’s scarf and figures out that Carmen was in her apartment. She puts the pieces together and explains the situation to David. She is upset that David jumped to a conclusion so soon and tries to break things off with him, thinking it’s a stupid idea.
Carmen tries to reason with Valentina; however, she isn’t the one for budging. David, on the other hand, finally confronts his past relationship with his ex-fiancé and Nachos’ sister, María. After María left David, he became a recluse, and the shop he shared with Nacho declined and was barely staying afloat due to Nacho’s efforts. He finally gathers the push to move on and pursue Valentina
At the audition, Valentina plays her part nervously. David comes in the middle and tells her to play fiercely, but she’s soon told to stop. Knowing she underperformed, she started singing her own composition, which awes everyone. A judge later tells her that she will refer her to a friend in the music industry who could make use of her beautiful voice. Valentina is rejoicing and finally stands up to Óscar.
After that, Carmen and Nacho go for ice cream with her son, Dani. Valentina runs to her apartment to talk to David. They both have a heartfelt conversation, revealing each other’s true feelings. Mid-conversation, Valentina shoves the Metronome on the wall, and then David decides to break the wall. Valentina moves to David’s side through the hole and hugs him. The two share a loving kiss, and the film ends on a happy and cheerful note.
