This article contains spoilers for both Culpa Mia and My Fault: London.
When Mercedes Ron’s novel “Culpa Mia” came out in 2017, it rocked the world. Once BookTok became a reality, it only became more popular. In 2023, Amazon Prime sponsored a Spanish studio’s bid to bring the book to life, with an English adaptation by Amazon Prime not far behind. However, while they do follow the same points, the two adaptations couldn’t be more different. A lot is going on between the Spanish original, which has a male director, and the English version, which has a female director, as well as the soundtracks, the location, and the general vibe.
But what makes this franchise so special? Let’s dive in.
“Why do you always make it so hard for me to hate you?”
Noah, Culpa Mia
Culpa Mia
The Culpa Mia film adaptation was released on Amazon Prime on June 8, 2023. Naturally, considering the source material’s popularity, it spawned an international fanbase. Fans were in love and began flooding TikTok with edits. The second movie, based on the second book, “Culpa Tuya,” was released on Dec. 27, 2024, and the third movie, Culpa Nuestra, is expected to be released sometime in 2025, but the date has not been confirmed.
The franchise stands out because of its unique story. Culpa Mia follows two step-siblings, Nick and Noah, who, upon meeting, hate each other but somehow end up falling in love. In the Spanish adaptation, Nick is 21 and Noah is 17, about to turn 18, which is crazy enough.
Nick is a “bad boy” angling to make his way in the world, and Noah is a girl whose life has been completely uprooted and who doesn’t want anything to do with her new family or rich girl life. The two eventually get over their differences and realize that they like each other more than they thought, which leads to, you guessed it, a forbidden relationship forming.
To add to it all, Noah has secrets about her past that the audience doesn’t find out until later in the film, most of which involve her father.
The Spanish dialogue was much more sultry but quite hard to follow (even for Spanish speakers), and it seemed like Nick and Noah’s journey to find each other was way too complicated. One of the best parts of the movie was the moment you could see Nick fall in love with Noah, but other than that, it was pretty difficult to see meaningful moments between the two that did not eventually head in a physical direction.
Like it or hate it, it was a good movie, but did it really do the best job of bringing these characters and the story to life?
“Sh*t, Noah. What the hell are you doing to me?”
Nick, My Fault London
My Fault: London
When I read that there would be another adaptation of the “Culpa Mia” series, I was hesitant based on my feelings about the first film. While I liked it, I wasn’t sure I would be impressed, given the lack of character development evident in the original film.
Boy, was I wrong.
As soon as I saw the trailer for My Fault: London, I knew something would be different. When the film was released the day before Valentine’s Day this year, I woke up at 6 a.m. to watch it. And then I watched the TikTok edits like any girl who goes down an internet rabbit hole on her latest hyper fixation.
The story is generally the same: Noah, an 18-year-old girl from Miami, Florida, moves to London with her mom and meets her stepbrother, Nick, who she thinks is quite entitled (spoiler alert: he’s not.) Unlike Nick in Culpa Mia, this Nick is a 19-year-old founder of a rideshare app called Connect, so even though his father has money, as the character Giles puts it, “he makes his own moolah.”
In this version, both characters seem deeper and have a much richer connection before their relationship becomes physical.
We learn that Noah has panic attacks when in confined spaces or around violence, and she deals with her cheating ex by asking her stepbrother to make him leave. And she’s cool enough to bring a man to his knees and leave him there. What more could you want to see?
The journey and evolution of these two characters and the story are evident, with not too many differences from the original.
In my opinion, they did the same thing as The Chronicles of Narnia did in the early 2000s and 2010s: a reboot with a different take that impresses film nerds like myself.
So, what’s Next?
At this point, two of the three original films have been released, and the third one has yet to drop a trailer or release date. As for My Fault: London, it hasn’t been confirmed yet whether there will be a second or third movie (hey, Prime, the girls want it).
But if you’re the kind of girl who loves a good romance movie with some danger (the only thing I’ll say is race cars), then these movies are for you.
Whether you like the Spanish or English version more, both interpretations are certainly something to see.