A young adult woman’s perspective on life changes after she meets and falls for her handicap client. In “Me Before You”, adapted from the bestselling novel by Jo Jo Moyes, Lou Clark (Emilia Clarke) is a quirky girl living in a woman’s body, who knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick (Matthew Lewis). What Lou doesn’t know is she’s about to lose her job or that knowing what’s coming is what keeps her sane. Will Traynor (Sam Claflin) knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he’s going to put a stop to that. What Will doesn’t know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of romance and energy, and neither of them knows they’re going to change each other for all time. After a series of daily encounters, an unexpected relationship blossoms between them. “Me Before You” is directed by Thea Sharrock, and is rated PG-13 for suggestive material.
“Me Before You” tackles with passable triumphs the very same concepts and stories that Nicolas Sparks has been trying to accomplish for years. It succeeds as a romance flick because of the very magic between its two protagonists, as well as an honest screenplay that plays it straight forward, instead of manipulating its audience with somber musical tones and cheap throw away lines that no human being with a conscience would ever be caught dead spouting. The film does have some bumps in the road along the way, mainly in some interruptions that do more harm than good for the film’s serious direction. But in the end, Sharrock touches our hearts with a story that believes in building the characters first, and letting the love come through the door when it’s least expected. Because of that, “Me Before You” has great crossover feel for the perfect kind of date night movie that will score extra points for the male in relationships.
That’s not to say that Sharrock’s film hasn’t been met with some controversial hard shots during the promotion for the film. Several handicap awareness groups are speaking out for a book and film that depicts wheelchair bound humans to a life of downtrodden and depression. I don’t fully agree with this stance, and I will explain why. The movie is only about one person, so to assume that the writer is making a general assumption for all people in a wheelchair, is spitefully ridiculous. Will Traynor is a man who has lost the most important things that made up who he was. His literal identity has been wiped away for a life that makes a complete 180 in change. Who are we to say how one person could and should take such an immense change? It really is a case by case basis, and that’s why I didn’t take offense for this particular aspect of the news story. What did kind of shake me though is the ending, which will floor anyone in surprise who hasn’t read the book. It’s kind of that decades old DR Kevorkian question, as to whether people have the right to their own life-changing choices, and it’s one that I personally don’t agree with, if only on the basis that it sends the audience home without much satisfaction.
As for the script written by author Jojo Moyes, the movie takes on some pretty tough shoes to fill on the subject of handi-capable people, but I feel that it’s done with enough class to really articulate some of the everyday occurances for these people. As for the creative, the film takes a lot of chances on comedy, and for the majority of the movie, it does feel unaffected, but some aspects of the script feel out of place with a scene that just minutes prior played as a tearjerker. Where Moyes writes effortlessly however, is in the slow-peeling layers of these two characters, and how their story is very unconventional for a genre that feels stuck on pause. There’s nothing cynical about love being the cure to a man who has literally lost everything, and that is why it feels OK here to play that cliche kind of card. Our characters feel stronger because they embrace that love, and it’s because of the believability of two people seeing things in a different light that we get such an enchanting tale.
Emilia Clarke has shed her small-screen wings and has become a force that the big screen has long been deserving of. As Lou, we feel childhood innocence and a soft-natured personality that makes us demand to see more from her. She’s cute from so much more than just a topical kind of meaning, and the young brit has so much capability in taking her audience on a roller coaster of emotions simply because you root for this character’s triumph. Claflin also mesmerizes as Traynor, a man who is merely a shadow of who he once was. There wasn’t anything insulting or overdone in his performance to me, and I think a lot of that is because the film always flirts with that branch of happiness for this man and how important Lou is to his life moving forward. The on-screen chemistry between these two actors felt very believable, and that’s when a romance film feels legitimate to me: when it substitutes bad boys in a khaki-wearing town for moving heart in its presentation, and in that aspect Clarke and Claflin are as good as any in the last ten years. One character who I could’ve done without was the writing for Lou’s on-screen beau Patrick (Played by Matthew Lewis). This is the part of the movie where things felt a little off-setting, as Patrick is everything in an arch nemesis that these movies have seen for the last thirty years. He’s not necessarily evil, but rather a goofy unlikeable self-indulged schmuck who is only there to justify the audience’s growing interest in Lou leaving him to be with Will. This was the one minor manipulation that I saw in the film, and honestly I would’ve been OK will Patrick either being written out or simply Naive when it came to Lou’s loss of interest in their relationship. It’s the one black mark in an otherwise perfectly structured character narrative.
Overall, “Me Before You” is so much more enjoyable than it could have and probably should have been. Beyond the eye-rolling comedy and perfectly timed Ed Sheeran playlist, are some truly entertaining moments between the leads that tugs at your emotions without being sappy or sentimental. Clarke and Claflin sparkle with performances that prove that love is simply more than shallow appearances.
6/10