Me Before You

Me Before You is unabashedly sentimental, and about as unashamed of being a romantic tearjerker as a movie can be.  However, it is smart in what it is.  It's nowhere near as forced in its manipulations as it could have been, and it's bright enough to let its protagonists breathe and create personalities, The movie is driven by a genuine relationship that we, the audience, get behind.  To put it simply, this movie is everything that just about the entire Nicolas Sparks film catalogue is not.

I have not read the wildly successful novel by Jojo Moyes (who also penned the screenplay) that the film is based on, so I cannot offer any comparisons between the book and the film.  All I will say is that the filmmakers did a remarkable job at casting the two young lovers at the center of the story.  We have Emilia Clarke, from Game of Thrones, as the spirited and likable Louisa Clark.  She is so immediately charming, we can't help but fall for her.  True, this is not her first major role in a film (she played Sarah Connor in last year's disappointing Terminator Genisys), but she shows immediate appeal here, and I truly hope this leads to a big film career.  Playing opposite her is Sam Claflin from The Hunger Games, and he has the more difficult role of the man who is supposed to start off cold and distant, but gradually warm up during the course of the film.  He too is excellent.  He is able to show the pain and anguish of the character without it being forced or melodramatic.  His character, Will Traynor, has more or less been handed a death sentence ever since he was paralyzed in an accident, and Clarke's Louisa is the first person to give him hope in a long time.  We're supposed to believe that these two not only warm up to each, but fall in love, and we do thanks to these performances.

Will Traynor is essentially living on borrowed time when we first meet him.  He has attempted to take his life in the past ever since the accident paralyzed him,, but has granted his concerned parents (Janet McTeer and Charles Dance) a six month "waiting period"in the hopes that his life will turn around, although he has basically resigned himself to a reality of despair.  Emilia is a woman in her mid twenties who has recently lost her job of six years at a cafe, has a large and supportive family, and a mostly self-centered boyfriend (Matthew Lewis) who pops up now and then to basically provide comic relief, or to remind us what a twit he is.  She answers a job opening that Will's parents send out seeing a caretaker for their son.  She gets the job, but when she arrives, she finds out he already has a male nurse on the premises.  Instead, Emilia has more or less been hired to hopefully get Will out of his funk, and help him realize that he can still live life in his current state.  But the question remains, is it too late to change Will's mind?

Naturally, a majority of Me Before You is devoted to the relationship that blossoms as Emilia and Will grow closer.  He slowly begins to open up and trust her, and introduces her to the joys of subtitled movies and seeing the world.  She, meanwhile, starts to want to make every day happy for him.  And even though we know where things are going, even if we have not read the novel, the movie never gets bogged down with tragedy and sadness.  This is a surprisingly upbeat film for the most part, with two charming lead performances.  Emilia Clarke gets the real star turn here, as her bright and intelligent performance immediately draws the audience to her side almost from the moment she walks on screen.  Will is naturally supposed to be shut off from the world, but we can sense a certain love for life that has faded in Claflin's performance.  As we learn more about his past, and that love for life he once had, it allows us to sympathize with him, and the portrayal he gives perfectly balances the gruff exterior and sadness, as well as the hidden charm that eventually shows itself.

Just like the lead characters, the movie is light when it needs to be, and heavy when appropriate, but not so much in either category that the movie feels like its trying to wring out our emotions.  This is a confident directing job by first-time filmmaker, Thea Sharrock, who manages to avoid a lot of the big problems and traps that these kind of movies usually fall into.  The relationship of the two main characters is constantly front and center.  There are no outside characters trying to keep the lovers apart, and there are no forced situations that cause the couple to get angry at each other.  It's simply a light, well-done romantic fantasy that is sure to have women (and perhaps their dates) reaching for the Kleenex.  If the couple at the center of the story feels real, that's because the movie allows them to have real personalities and emotions.  It's a gentle, heartfelt movie that isn't trying to strive for greatness.  It just gives us a likable couple, and two great performances to carry them.

Walking in, I knew the movie would be successful, as it's one of the few movies this summer that is courting a female audience.  Having seen it, I can say it is completely successful at just being a romantic drama that is effective and emotional.  Me Before You is not exactly a smart movie, but it shows a certain intelligence in how it's been made, and how it handles itself.

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