Spoilers.
We open up with a man in his prime heading off to work. He starts to pick up his motorcycle helmet, then his girlfriend warns him that it’s raining out. So he walks instead-and is hit by a motorcycle. Holy Irony, Batman!
Me Before You tells the story of a poor young woman who hits the jackpot by becoming the companion to a rich man who is paralyzed from the neck down. He does have a small bit of movement in one hand that lets him control his super wheelchair. He is a bit bummed out that life has dealt him such a sorry hand. So bummed out that he decides he’s going to kill himself in six months.
Ok, the film is beautiful, the actors are beautiful, the locations are beautiful. It’s got a lot of great music and a lot of great cinematography. It’s all great, except for the mind numbingly stupid story.
Ok, the guy was active and now he’s in a wheelchair. Uh, so what? Let’s tweak the story a bit. What if he was a painter who has gone blind, should he still kill himself? How about a singer who loses her voice? A composer that goes deaf? A writer that gets Alzheimer’s?
I’m not against suicide. I liked Philip K. Dick’s idea of there being Suicide Booths on every corner, just in case. I don’t like the idea that the only option to being paralyzed is to kill yourself. Why not take the film’s message to its logical conclusion and kill everyone who is less than a perfect physical specimen?
This was clearly written as a great tragedy, but people face great tragedy every day. Most people don’t throw their hands up and say ‘Well, that’s that.’ Humans are amazingly adaptable. People have survived death camps, years of wrongful imprisonment, the loss of loved ones, and yes, injuries that have left them in wheelchairs for the rest of their lives.
The man in the wheelchair is young, good looking, and richer than god. I never felt sorry for him. I resented him. Whinny little bitch.
Emilia Clarke gives a bubbly, over the top performance as Lou Clark. I know it’s called acting, but it’s almost unbelievable that this is the same woman who plays Daenerys Targaryen on Game of Thrones. By contrast, Jenna Coleman has a small role and she is indistinguishable from Clara Oswald from Doctor Who. Other familiar faces include Brendan Coyle and Charles Dance.
Me Before You was cotton candy. Tasty, but not very filling.
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