First, the actress that plays Rio is brilliant! She managed to capture the different sides to her character. She was able to play manipulative, brave, strong, insincere, and mean as well as sweet, weak, sincere, cute, lovable, and vulnerable. I thought the professor was quite cute in the way he was shy about his feelings for Rio. Although normally I would say its very strange for a romantic relationship to develop between a couple that is 18 years a part, the movie managed to convince me otherwise. I felt emotionally invested in these characters and wanted them to be together. I was satisfied with the ending. Overall this was a very heartbreaking but beautiful movie.