How does the movie If begin?

Ugh, that beginning of If. Just…oof. Right in the feels. I mean, those first few minutes with little Bea and her parents? Total sunshine and rainbows. Playing in the garden, family dinners, all that warm, fuzzy stuff. And that’s what makes it so devastating, you know? Because you’re sitting there, a knot in your stomach, just knowing it’s not going to last. It’s like… why do they do that to us?! Show us this perfect little world, just to shatter it? I remember watching it with my sister, and we both just looked at each other like, “Oh no, this is going to be rough.” They build up that happy, innocent childhood so beautifully, so perfectly normal, that when things inevitably go south (and boy, do they ever go south!), it’s like a punch to the gut. It’s almost manipulative, how effectively it sets you up for the heartbreak to come. Seriously, the whole emotional tone of the film is right there in those opening scenes.