Me Before You

Me Before You                                                                     June 15, 2016                                                                                

I loved this movie. I really loved it. I know, another sad one, which I said I don’t like to watch but the previews pulled me in. In fact the previews looked so compelling that I downloaded the book and read it in two nights. The movie obviously has significantly less detail and leaves out quite a lot, for example Louisa was raped when she was younger, her sister is considered the smart one and leaves for college with her son, Will’s father was having an affair, the extent of how much pain and suffering Will endured and the relationship between Louisa and her boyfriend. Even though I found reading the book filled in a lot of detail and “color” while watching the movie, both my friend and daughter watched it with me and loved it as well and they had not read the book. I’m glad that I had read it beforehand though.

I was first drawn to the movie after watching the preview because I enjoy the acting skills of Emilia Clarke from the Terminator and Game of Thrones. Then I was watching a Pirates of the Caribbean movie and saw Sam Claflin who plays Will in the movie and I though, he is going to be good as well. I thought both of these actors gave superb performances throughout the movie. My daughter loved the fact that Matthew Lewis (Harry Potter) and Brendan Coyle (Downton Abbey) were in it too – that was a nice surprise for us. I loved the depth of these characters, the lives they lived before they met each other and how it created who they were now. I enjoyed Louisa’s quirky hair and clothing and the castle, which was almost another character in the book.

There is a lot of discussion around is it okay to choose to die or to live regardless of the quality of life. I honestly do not know where I stand on the issue. I get the Christian view of not playing God and where there is breath there is life. I can also see the authors point. I would not want to be a burden on my family and if this had happened to someone who was not as well off financially, life would be much much more difficult for them. One other thought, if this had happened before we were so technologically advanced, the character may have died within days or weeks and his suffering would have been greatly reduced. Should we be using this technology to prolong life when it is a life full of heartache and pain? I do not know the answer to these questions but the movie definitely was one that led to some deep conversations.

This is not a movie I would take a young child too as the subject matter is so deep. I did take my daughter who is 20 and it led to some very interesting conversations. Hope you all take the time to go, or when it comes out, watch it on a quiet evening with a box of tissues.