Story highlights 'La La Land' director Damien Chazelle says he finds the movie's bittersweet ending to be 'romantic'

"To me, if you're telling a story about love, love has to be bigger than the characters," he said

(CNN) Warning: This story contains spoilers for "La La Land."

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling struck some beautiful on-screen chords in the Oscar-nominated "La La Land."

As up-and-comer actress Mia and creatively hungry jazz musician Sebastian, the two took movie goers on a whimsical journey from reluctant attraction to romance-of-the-ages. But by the end of the film, their relationship fell flat, a victim of two dueling ambitions.

Bittersweet as it was to watch the two characters part ways with a polite smile after a chance encounter at the end of the film, director Damien Chazelle is convinced that's how it had to be.

"That ending was there from the get-go," he told CNN in a recent interview. "I think I just have a thing about love stories where the lovers don't wind up together at the end; I find it very romantic."

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