The 2025 Indonesian romance The Most Beautiful Girl in the World keeps viewers on the edge of their seats, constantly questioning whether Reuben and Kiara will end up together. The movie cleverly hints at their eventual union, or at least dating, after a six-month separation.
What hurdles did Reuben and Kiara encounter? I’ve dissected the pivotal events in the final act of this romantic Netflix film, which leads the story to its sweet conclusion.
Stranded on an Island
Reuben picked his future wife for his reality dating TV show, where he was the central bachelor. Kiara helped produce the show. He chose Helen, a seemingly genuine woman who earnestly wanted Reuben for his wealth and a lifelong marriage.
However, despite Reuben going through the motions of the dating show, he and Kiara continue to form a bond, which makes the characters increasingly helpless as the film progresses.
Celebrating the success of the produced non-scripted dating show, Reuben hosts a boat party with his employees and new future wife. But in dramatic (and comical) events, the rough waters threw Reuben and Kiara off the boat and ended up stranded on a desert island.
Kiara and Reuben are forced to bond further and survive on the desert island. While awaiting rescue, they create shelter, find fresh water, and fish together. Moments before rescue arrives, they both realize that their connection is genuine, but before they can kiss, they are saved.
The true meaning behind “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World”
After being stranded on an island together, Kiara and Reuben are forced to return to normalcy. Reuben is irked that Kiara is avoiding him, but it is clear that she finds herself in an impossible situation where the man she has feelings for is about to marry his future wife, Helen. Kiara pushes Reuben to choose, but his past and present make him truly conflicted, especially with the unsolved trauma of his family.
Reuben does some soul-searching with his mother, who left him and his father when he was younger. His mother needs to make up for leaving him in the past and gives him an old tape recording of the family.
In the tape recording, a young Reuben asks his mother about marriage. He jokingly implies that he will marry the most beautiful girl in the world, but then he must marry a younger, more attractive woman as his wife ages. His mother and father laugh this conversation off, but later on, his father reveals that the most beautiful girl in the world is the woman who loves you.
There’s plenty of meaning behind this: Reuben is a playboy bachelor who has enjoyed casually dating women all his life. He has always moved on to the next woman, not forming any connections. His father implies that there will always be another young, beautiful woman, but it’s the one that means something to you, who loves you, and who is the most important one.
“The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” really means “The Woman Most Important To You.” In modern-day dating, young generations have fallen for dopamine-fueled sexual relationships. With so much choice and availability that technology has brought us, including the rise of p*rn, men and women have forgotten that there will always, technically, be someone more “beautiful.” But beautiful is subjective. It’s the feelings and everything else a genuine connection brings that matters.
Reuben and Kiara are stranded on an island in ‘The Most Beautiful Girl in the World’ (Credit: Netflix)
What happened six months later at the end of The Most Beautiful Girl in the World?
Despite Reuben’s decision not to marry his future wife, Helen, from the TV show, Kiara still does not want to be with Reuben despite his marriage proposal. The only reason he participated in the TV show in the first place was because his father had it in his will that he must find a wife to secure his inheritance.
Rightfully so, Kiara rejects Reuben because she will never honestly know his intentions.
But time always heals. Six months later, it’s revealed that Reuben officially ended things with Helen and decided not to pursue his father’s inheritance. Instead, he launches his own start-up company. He pitches his ideas to another TV production company, where Kiara is the producer.
With six months passing, Reuben and Kiara have had time to reflect and can start again. They go out for dinner together, and the romance is clearly there. Kiara does kiss Reuben on the cheek but implies she wants to take it slow. Their first agreement is that they can hold hands.
I’d like to believe that Reuben and Kiara ended up together at the end of The Most Beautiful Girl in the World, demonstrating real maturity in giving each other the time they needed after a tumultuous start to their relationship.
