Four to Dinner Plot Synopsis
Four to Dinner is an Italian Netflix movie, exploring concepts of true love, soulmates and compatibility between different men and women. While there’s no same-sex pairings here (unfortunately) the concept is largely the same as Sliding Doors, with a few distinct differences.
This movie centers on four individuals – Matteo, Dario, Chiara and Giulia – who engage in different relationships across the 100 minute run-time, playing out as a big “what if” scenario across alternate realities.
The ambiguous ending though leaves a lot to the imagination.
Who’s narrating the story?
The whole premise of this movie originates from the opening scene during a rooftop lunch. Luca and Sara engage in a debate with another couple whom they’re friends with over whether soulmates really exist or not. Both the men disagree with Luca, who is of the opinion that there are not.
Across most of the run-time, we see the different pairings – Giulia and Matteo, Chiara and Dario, Chiara and Matteo, Giulia and Dario – and are left with clues over which are the most compatible. With key moments in their life overlapping – including pregnancy, marriage and subsequent break-ups – the film cleverly shifts narrative perspectives to constantly keep you guessing.
How does Four to Dinner end?
As the movie ends, Luca invites the two couples up to join them on the rooftop. Of course, the others want to know who ended up with whom. Luca was clear from the start though, re-emphasizing now that relationships are not always about compatibility. It’s more about the effort and time you put into making a relationship work, taking what life throws at you and using the strength of your partner to become stronger together.
The truth is, no one person is made for anyone. So when Matteo, Chiara, Dario and Giulia do eventually join them, the movie doesn’t actually confirm who the real couples are. This is ultimately the point of the whole movie, tying into the larger themes of love, unpredictability and how there’s no such thing as a “perfect” relationship.
There’s a real self-reflective tone in this that can be felt across each of the different realities. The ambiguous ending is the ultimate open-ended cherry on top of this cake.
But who did end up together?
If we’re taking a wild guess, there are a few clues over who the real couples are and which ones were red herrings concocted by Luca. It’s worth pointing out the scenes that have had the most screen-time, and which pairings have the best chemistry. Of course, take what I’m saying here with a pinch of salt but there are hints throughout the movie over who the real couples actually are.
Right at the end of the movie, just prior to the four characters arriving at the dinner party, Giulia and Matteo show up together, hand in hand, as do Chiara and Dario, who arrive in a silver car. There’s a quick edit to show Giulia stepping out but this feels like a red herring. If you pause just as the car arrives, Chiara is actually in the front seat.
Tellingly, there’s also nothing to show Matteo and Chiara together, beyond a few shots in the background. Furthermore, when the camera pans up from the rooftop dinner, Matteo and Giulia are standing together while Dario and Chiara are closer. So in our eyes, these are the pairings that made it to the dinner – Matteo and Giulia alongside Dario and Chiara.
But that’s just our two-cents and the film does end rather ambiguously, leaving this open to interpretation. In the end, love is unpredictable and hard to work out – and isn’t that really the point this ending is trying to make?
Read More: Four to Dinner Movie Review
Thanks for reading our Ending Explained article! What did you think of the ending? Do you think there will be a sequel? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
I just saw this movie and I think it’s obvious that Matteo wound up with Giulia and Chiara with Dario. There is a quick red herring moment as mentioned above but then they give it away as they walk to the door for dinner and inside they are still in those pairings. Chiara and Matteo are similar and Giulia and Dario are as well. They seem to get each other instantly which would make the case for the true soulmate. However, in keeping with the point of the movie, the other two pairings grow together and inspire each other to be better and more giving people. They grow together into soulmates. You knew instantly how Giulia would handle the cheating (after you saw Chiara flip out in the baby store), and she did not disappoint. Similarly Dario brought out a side of Chiara that she needed to be truly happy and she did the same for him. There was no doubt which pairings were healthier. And I don’t think there is any doubt who wound up together. However, I suspect the two couples would have been happy as well, just not in the same way as the ones who were together at the end of the film.
I watched the movie twice in different mood…the first time I preferred Giulia & Dario together the second time I watched closely and I changed my mind Giulia & Mateo are a great couple also Chriara with Dario. Chriara and Dario in the other story (seperate) are both misserable while Guilia & Mateo are not so much in both scenarios. Maby the third time I feel differently…after all that’s the point of the movie….
This film is too complicated but then so is love. If life was easy where would be the beauty in that. I think both stories are possible. We look forward to the sequel xxxx
When Luca narrated it in the first part of the movie it seems like he favors “a soul mate” as someone you would be making something to really work or like your soul mate could have been anyone in your lifetime not emphasizing how similarities attracts one another but rather sometimes opposite attracts or probably none at all but at the end of movie Luca said something about finding a red apple if you are also a red apple because it would be something a lot easier to work on the relationship than finding a green one and complete your half red – half green apple relationship (the likeness, you know what I mean). So for me the chemistry is all really on Giulia and Mateo and if Giulia and Dario would be together that’s just kind of toxic from the start for someone to not talk about their feelings passive aggresively and leaves you to wonder “where’s the relationship going” whilst Chiara and Dario have the spark of being together and they have the same level of energy that one wants to feel for his/her special person.
The first reviewer put into eloquent words what I wanted to say. I kept thinking toward the end, the writers aren’t really going to tell us who ends up with whom. Bummed about that, but feel my own interpretation is Matteo and Giulia end up and Dario and Chiara end up together.
There is some frustration apparently at the ending’s ambiguity. My take is that the ending tries to add some disguise, consistent with the movie’s premise, but the movie actually does not leave much doubt.
The first scenario is rather too quick and too cliche: Matteo and Chiara having an unlikely dinner at a wedding celebration; Giulia cutting to the chase and having a quick fling with Matteo, concluding he is a “dickhead”. Matteo and Chiara wandering around a store looking for baby clothes is odd. Their attempt to get pregnant seems forced. There is too much negative chemistry between Giulia and Dario and Matteo showing up just as Chiara gives birth is as strange as them wandering around a baby story early in the story. The dialogue of Giulia’s and Dario’s reconciliation does not really work.
The Matteo-Giulia relationship, however, is all about evolving as a couple. The first date fights its way through opposite views of things to a common ground. The unexpected pregnancy is a curve ball handled well and there is real give and take between them: Matteo gives up a promotion; Giulia does not choose to extend her stay in Lisbon. There is an obvious problem – Matteo’s cheating; but the two seem to have a way through it: Giulia suffers but appears to forgive.
Equally, Dario and Chiara evolve as a couole – much more in the Rom Com tradition actually of running away from their inevitability for a while. Their eventual union seems more credible than the alternative story. The body language of the two couple’s arrival at the end seems to confirm this scenario. The annoying thing about the ending is its – actually, for the reasons I lay out above – attempt to be mysterious and ambiguous.
I saw the end at .05x speed and I definitely think the couples are Chiara & Dario and Matteo & Giulia. I prefer it that way because their stories are more beautiful.