"Me Before You" was made to appeal to the lowest
common denominator. In spite of myself, though, I was moved by and I enjoyed
this film.
"Me Before You" is a romance between a perky,
poor, not spectacularly beautiful girl and a rich, suicidal, model-handsome
quadriplegic. You may have begun gagging already. I understand, and believe me,
everything that you fear may be wrong with such a film is wrong with this film.
It talks down to its audience. Its play with dangerous ideas is a child playing
with matches. And yet, I cried.
I think two things save "Me Before You" in spite
of all that's wrong with it.
Sam Claflin plays the part of Will Traynor, the rich,
handsome, suicidal quadriplegic. Claflin is young, ripped, and handsome enough
to be in a toothpaste commercial. He is really good. I believed everything he
did. I was right there with him. I felt his pain and desperation.
Janet McTeer, a multiple-award-winning actress, is the soul
of the film. She plays Will's mother. She is given very little to do, but she
pops in and out regularly. There is an infinite sadness and terror in her eyes.
I'm a former nurse's aide and I'm very familiar with dealing with family
members of afflicted people. Janet McTeer is superb. She shows the exact
strength, vulnerability, and hoping-against-hope of the loved ones of the
wounded and doomed.
"Me Before You"'s plot doesn't do anything you
wouldn't expect it to. If you go to the movies to be surprised or intrigued,
stop right now. But you already knew that when you saw the movie poster of the
perky girl sitting on the lap of the very handsome man in a wheelchair, as they
gaze lovingly into each other's eyes.
"Me Before You" takes place in the England that
exists only in the imagination of fans of Masterpiece Theater, Jane Austen adaptations,
and Merchant Ivory films. This is very much not the England of Sadiq Khan and
Brexit or even of royal family scandals.
There are very rich people who also have good taste. There
are poor people who are warm, simple-minded, and humble, not at all resentful
or bitter about their place. Sort of like Hobbits. There is sweeping, green
countryside defined by rambling stone walls and trout streams. There is a big,
fat castle – yes, really – overlooking everything.
Weather? It's either blue skies, burgeoning lilacs and
hydrangeas, or gently drifting snow outlining the castle battlements, or
perfectly formed autumn leaves. Thomas Kinkade is the meteorologist.
Louisa "Lou" Clark is a cutie pie poor girl.
Emilia Clarke, who plays Louisa, telegraphs how adorable Lou is in every scene.
She is constantly dimpling her cheeks and wriggling her eyebrows as if they
were migrating caterpillars looking for a leaf to pupate on. Look, if you wanted
to smack Emilia Clarke during every scene of "Me Before You," could
you please send me a Facebook friend request? Does the word
"subtlety" appear in Emilia Clarke's dictionary? Or
"teamwork"? In every scene she demands attention. Actors should never
work with babies, animals, or Emilia Clarke.
Lou is supposed to be really poor. Lou never wears the same
item of clothing twice. Her clothes are unique designer finds. Her shoes alone
would go for a few hundred bucks. Oh, but she's this noble poor girl. Yeah,
right.
The filmmakers here keyed their film to teenage girls who
love clothes more than life itself and who have short attention spans. My
utterly subjective estimate: no scene in the film lasts for more than ninety
seconds. You think there's going to be a serious discussion, or even three
consecutive lines of dialogue, about the issues at play here: can afflicted
people live worthwhile lives? Is suicide ethical? Will this film encourage the
handicapped to off themselves? But that never happens.
It's safe to guess that Will's quadriplegia is, to the
filmmakers, merely a plot device. Tweener girls find guys attractive, but are
anxious about real physical intimacy and all it entails. Also, tweener girls
don't want to be obliterated by masculinity. They want to exist in a world
where they are the center. And, tweener girls are anxious that they aren't
pretty enough.
Thus, "Me Before You" gives tweener girls a very
handsome, ripped hero who couldn't engage in physical intimacy even if he
wanted to. And he is so needy and so isolated that the tweener girl's cuteness
and spunkiness and fashion choices become the center of his world. And she
doesn't have to be beautiful to be the center of the universe to this handsome
guy who, if he were not a quadriplegic, would be the hottest date in town.
Yes, it is all pretty awful, right down to Lou's boyfriend,
who is an endurance athlete obsessed with his physical performance, but
insensitive to Lou's emotional needs –
he is meant to contrast with the lovable quadriplegic. One man can run but
can't feel. One man can feel but can't walk. Oh good grief.
And yet I cried while watching this film. In spite of
everything, Claflin's and McTeer's performances opened my heart.
I also review "Free State of Jones" here
and "The Conjuring 2" here
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