Forever is a very long time, but sometimes it’s not long enough, especially for two boys in love staring into an unknown future.

After three delightful seasons on Netflix, Alice Oseman’s web comic-turned-book series-turned TV show wraps up its run with a full-length movie, directed by Wash Westmoreland.

“Heartstopper Forever” retains the impossible charm of the first three seasons. This is an optimistic, rose-tinted world, one that mines the complexities and contradictions in the lives of a close-knit gaggle of queer British teens with powerful tenderness.

As these teens enter young adulthood, those complexities increasingly include jealousy, anxiety and sex — lots and lots of sex.

Though they’re still very much in love, things feel off balance between British teens Nick Nelson (Kit Connor) and Charlie Spring (Joe Locke).

Charlie is thriving. He wins the election for head boy at Truham Grammar School, defends younger students against bullying and forms the pride club he would have wanted when he was a lonely queer kid. Even after the school turns him down, he takes matters into his own hands (and into the classroom of art teacher Mr. Ajayi, played by Fisayo Akinade).

But rugby star Nick, one year older than Charlie and heading for university next year, doesn’t know who he is anymore, outside of his relationship. “I am a good boyfriend,” he writes, as one of many rejected opening sentences to a university application essay.

It’s a tough, thrilling time for all of their friends, who are facing gap years and big (sometimes bad) choices. They’re figuring out what is love and what is codependence, learning about the stab in the gut that comes with seeing your ex get hit on, and discovering that all-powerful relationship phrase, “I’m fine.” And they’re wondering: Do any teenage relationships last?

They’re all planning their futures, together and apart, even if they know these plans might not be real. Artist Elle (Yasmin Finney) and filmmaker Tao (William Gao) are still together (sometimes), though they’re staring down the fact of Elle’s upcoming move to Berlin. Will Tara (Corinna Brown) and Darcy (Kizzy Edgell) go to uni, or travel the world? Sweet Isaac (Tobie Donovan) is still always reading a book, even at parties.

The unfortunate collateral damage of trimming this episodic story into a movie under two hours long is that we spend relatively little time with the friend group as a whole, and one of the joys of “Heartstopper” is its big-hearted, deftly written web of relationships, all of which are given equal weight and detail.

The shorter run time also means some themes get reduced into syrup; the platitudes come as fast and furious as Tao and Elle’s breakups and makeups, with too little space to breathe in between.

But hey, these are kids! They may be the most patient, communicative, even-tempered teens in creation, but all teens can express trite-but-new-to-them ideas with certainty, and these teens are no exception.

Even so, “Heartstopper” remains an emotional marvel, honest and hopeful, never condescending.

“We look like babies,” Charlie tells Nick, looking at an old photo of them. And he’s right, they really do. Three years is forever. (Connor and Locke, it must be said, have grown as actors as well as humans over the course of the show, and I hope whoever cast these two has won every industry award available to them.)

To risk a platitude of my own, we need more hearts on more sleeves these days. Tales like “Heartstopper” don’t just deliver a feel-good, fizzy love story (though it certainly does that), they remind us to value all our relationships while we have them — they can change so fast. But if you’re lucky, or wise, or both, that change can be for the better, and the people you know can surprise you, if you let them. And what better way is there to spend forever?

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'HEARTSTOPPER FOREVER'

3 stars (out of 4)

Rating: TV-MA (for sex and language)

Running time: 1:54

How to watch: Netflix

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