La La Land is a romantic musical . Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling star in the movie as Mia and Sebastien respectively. Damien Chazelle directs this movie using various colour palettes and paints a masterpiece.
The conflict in La La Land is between ambition and compromise. The plot explores how love requires compromise and sometimes cannot be pursued without compromising on one’s ambitions.
Seb and Mia love each other but their careers have two different paths. While Seb wants to open a Jazz Club. Mia wants to be an actress. They are both talented but life has them pinned down. Seb doesn't get many gigs hence cannot pay bills. He thinks Mia wants him to earn money so he goes to Keith choosing to compromise on his classical philosophy and try fusion music . He earns money but he moves away from Mia, he isn't even able to even watch her theatrical play . Mia upon seeing Seb at the closing runs away. She almost quits her dream of becoming an actress.
Seb pleads her to give an audition, she gets the lead role and has to move away. Before leaving they tell each other how they'll always be in love but are not meant to be together.
Here lies the conflict, if they struggle and compromise they can be together but their dreams won't be achieved. Thus, they go their separate ways to fulfil their destinies.
Years pass by, Mia an established actress through a coincidence goes to "Seb's", Sebastien's Jazz club with her husband. Both of them have fulfilled their ambitions. In the epilogue we see a dream , all an illusion, it shows if everything was different how these two would be together, that gives the movie its name. The last frame of them smiling at each other with a sense of melancholy made the movie more remarkable. The melancholy represents their separation but their smiles depict their love. In the end just as the colours in the movie intermix, even the conflict does. Love succeeds because for Seb and Mia seeing each others' dreams fulfilled is love for them.