Love may still be complicated, but Olivia Wilde thinks social media has added an entirely new problem to the equation. As The Invite turns the messiness of marriage, intimacy, and fading connection into comedy, its director believes carefully curated online identities may be making real-life relationships harder to evolve. For Wilde, the problem begins when people stop being people and start becoming brands.

And if love requires people to grow together, what happens when the internet keeps reminding them who they used to be?

Speaking to The Guardian, Olivia Wilde argued that social media may be quietly limiting the freedom people need to evolve, both individually and within relationships. “People have become brands,” she said, questioning whether leaving behind a permanent digital record of interests, opinions, and past identities makes people feel less free to change. For Wilde, that pressure becomes especially complicated in relationships, where partners may expect each other to remain the same people they once chose.

“People have become brands. Everyone has defined said brand. I wonder if having put a record out there of who you are, and what your interests are, means people are giving themselves less permission to change.” Wilde tole The Guardian.

Talking further with The Guardian, Wilde explained that different stages of life once offered natural opportunities for reinvention, whether through school, college, or moving to a new city. Now, she fears that social media creates a public archive that can hold people against their former selves, even as they grow older and want different things. The filmmaker believes the strongest relationships are those in which partners remain curious about who the other person is today, rather than demanding they stay frozen as the person they once were.

Dinner Goes Wrong in A24’s 'The Invite' With Seth Rogen and Olivia Wilde

And while Wilde has plenty to say about modern love off-screen, The Invite puts relationships under an even messier microscope.

Directed by and starring Olivia Wilde, The Invite follows Angela, a frustrated artist trapped in a fading marriage with Joe, a struggling musician played by Seth Rogen. Their already fragile relationship takes a wildly uncomfortable turn when they invite their mysterious upstairs neighbors, therapist Piña and former firefighter Hawk, played by Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton, over for dinner. What begins as an ordinary evening quickly spirals when the guests make an unexpected proposition, forcing both couples to confront desire, dissatisfaction, and the cracks hiding beneath their relationships.

Written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, The Invite is an English-language remake of Cesc Gay’s acclaimed 2020 Spanish film The People Upstairs. Wilde shot the intimate chamber comedy entirely inside a single apartment over 21 days on 35mm film, keeping its four-person ensemble at the heart of the chaos. After earning acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2026, the A24 release began its limited theatrical rollout in late June and will expand nationwide on July 10, with early reviews praising the chemistry between its cast and its sharp, painfully funny take on modern marriage.

As The Invite puts modern relationships under a brutally funny microscope, Olivia Wilde’s thoughts on social media add another layer to the conversation.

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What are your thoughts on Olivia Wilde’s take on social media and modern relationships? Let us know in the comments.