Psychotherapist Esther Perel advised on Olivia Wilde’s comedy “The Invite,” helping shape its treatment of marital conflict and intimacy within long-term partnerships. Wilde directs and stars. Seth Rogen and Penélope Cruz appear in the film, with Edward Norton also among the cast. The story brings two couples together for dinner, where the neighbors’ openness prompts a married couple to confront dissatisfaction and unspoken tensions in their relationship.
The film adapts Cesc Gay’s Spanish relationship comedy “Sentimental,” released in English-language markets as “The People Upstairs.” Wilde has said the original’s basic conflict could resonate across cultures. Rashida Jones and Will McCormack developed the English-language screenplay before Wilde reshaped the material during production and brought Perel in as a relationship adviser.
Perel’s contribution went beyond general thematic guidance. Wilde said the adviser helped the filmmakers approach arguments from each character’s perspective, instead of casting one partner as the obvious villain. That approach lets the comedy hold competing grievances and motives at once. Wilde has also linked the film’s themes to the idea of relationship “reinvention”: a relationship can change, and a couple may begin a new phase together rather than treat separation as the only answer.
Perel’s ideas inform the film’s exploration of compersion and the tension between familiarity and desire. The story also examines changing forms of intimacy. A dinner conversation brings those subjects into focus, contrasting the basic couple’s relational fatigue with the neighbors’ more expressive approach to partnership. Its dramatic engine is not an external crisis but what the characters disclose, and leave unsaid, about sexual desire within marriage.
Cruz plays Piña, a sex therapist whose advice unsettles the gathering. She consulted Perel to make the character’s relationship observations feel credible, while Wilde described Piña as a fictional composite drawing partly on Perel and partly on other people she had encountered. The character is an influence-based creation, not a direct portrayal of the therapist. Cruz also helped shape Piña’s appearance, proposing a blonde wig shortly before filming. Edward Norton recalled the change as resembling “a Spanish Esther Perel,” while Wilde said she watched Cruz “shape-shift” into the role.
The production included about 10 days of rehearsals before filming, during which Wilde encouraged the actors to help build their characters. That preparation gave the ensemble time to develop the film’s dialogue and relationships together. Perel’s perspective also helped frame disagreements as interactions between two people with distinct points of view, rather than as a simple contest between a wronged partner and a villain.
Wilde has described using Perel’s ideas to consider how one relationship might end and a new phase begin with the same person. In an interview with La Vanguardia, she discussed relationships that incorporate others and the possibility of partners renewing their connection instead of automatically ending it. The film brings that question into a comic setting, where sexual candor meets marital discomfort without turning the characters’ dilemmas into a lecture.
Perel’s work in film and media reflects a broader effort to bring conversations about relationships beyond the therapy room. “The Invite” puts questions about intimacy and relationship change into a mainstream comedy, using humor and the contrast between the two couples to bring those subjects into public conversation. Its premise also reflects growing visibility for discussions of consensual non-monogamy alongside shifting relationship norms, without presenting one model as the sole answer.
Other recent cultural works have also explored the intersection of personal relationships and societal change. The series Silo, covered in a previous report, examines control and adaptation within closed communities, offering another perspective on how people handle complex social dynamics. More details are available in the article about Silo’s latest season at the developing storyline of Silo and its impact on viewers.
Coverage in October 2026 reported that “The Invite” debuted at the Sundance Film Festival to strong audience responses and entered Oscar-season discussion. The film is available on HBO Max from October 23, 2026. Its journey from a Spanish-language relationship comedy to Wilde’s English-language adaptation puts questions about intimacy and long-term partnership before a broader international audience.
Through her clinical practice and media work, Perel continues to shape public discussions of relationships. In “The Invite,” her ideas inform a comic portrait of couples negotiating desire and familiarity as relationships change. The film’s focus on those negotiations gives audiences in Spain and elsewhere a familiar setting, the shared dinner table, for considering how partners sustain connection over time.
