Fact Check: Is The Notebook ending different on Netflix? Explained

The Notebook is a romantic film adapted from the 1996 Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name. The film was originally distributed by New Line Cinema and released in theaters on June 25, 2004.

The plot of The Notebook is about an elderly Duke recalling his past romance with a girl named Allie to an Alzheimer's patient at a nursing home.

The story's ending reveals that the Alzheimer's patient is none other than Allie herself, and Duke has been recounting their love story.

The film ends with Duke sneaking into her hospital bed and the two falling asleep together. They're discovered by the nurse the next morning, with the implication that they passed away in each other's arms.

However, when the film aired on Netflix UK, the ending was changed by removing the scene of the nurse discovering them. Instead, it cuts off at a scene where birds are flying over the lake. Therefore, Netflix did air an alternate ending of the film.

However, Netflix revealed via social media that they didn't edit the film themselves, the alternate ending was actually a part of the film copy they received, and they were working on switching back to the original, theatrical ending.

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Netflix unintentionally showed an alternate ending to The Notebook

Based on their social media response, this alternate ending was made by none other than the film distributors, and Netflix itself had nothing to do with it.

The exact reason for this ending's existence is unconfirmed, but it could be the result of the film's producers editing multiple versions of the film to comply with censorship guidelines, either for international countries or for television networks.

The censorship of films for international releases, or television broadcasting, is nothing new in Hollywood. As recently as 2022, an instance of film censorship made headlines when Tencent released David Fincher's Fight Club in China.

The Chinese release of the film infamously diverged from the original theatrical ending, where Tyler Durden's plot to go on a bombing spree succeeded even though Tyler himself had been defeated. The revised ending instead cuts to a text scroll stating that Tyler's plot was foiled and he was arrested by the authorities.

An earlier instance of film censorship has also been documented by the television release of 1995's Die Hard With A Vengeance, where the villainous Simon Gruber blackmails John McClane into entering the black neighborhood of Harlem with a placard reading "I Hate N***rs".

In television broadcasts, the placard instead read "I Hate Everybody", diminishing the significance of the danger Simon was subjecting McClane to.

It's entirely possible that The Notebook had similar edits prepared to comply with the censorship demands of international countries, or television networks, and that Netflix UK might have received one such edit by mistake.

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The Notebook was popular with audiences but got mixed reviews

The Notebook was a box office success when it was released in theaters, making $117 million on a budget of $29 million. However, though the film proved immensely popular with moviegoing audiences, critical reception was considerably more divisive.

The movie currently sits at a 53% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critical consensus reading:

"It's hard not to admire its unabashed sentimentality, but The Notebook is too clumsily manipulative to rise above its melodramatic clichés."

Some critics, such as Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, were relatively positive towards the film, praising the cinematography and screenwriting. Others, such as Wesley Morris of The Boston Globe, were more critical, disliking the tonal clash between the youthful summer romance scenes, and the morbid and darker scenes depicting Noah and Allie as elderly people.

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The Notebook is available for viewing on Netflix UK.