Me Before You
2016 · Directed by Thea Sharrock
Original language: English
- drama
- romance
The story
Lou Clark, a directionless 26-year-old from the English countryside, takes a job at the local castle as a caregiver and companion to a wealthy young banker, Will Traynor. Wheelchair-bound from an accident two years prior, the once adventurous Will has all but given up — that is until Lou determines to show him that life is worth living.
What it’s like
Soft English countryside light and warm interiors give this film a gentle, lived-in glow: sun across rolling green fields, the drab grey of a provincial town, and the cool, polished calm of a rambling family estate with its high windows and pale stone. Sharrock keeps the camera close and conversational, with lots of medium two-shots and bright, colourful costume against muted walls, and the score is a sweeping, piano-led strings sound that swells at emotional peaks. The vibe is bittersweet and tender, a romance that sits with grief and disability rather than running from them; it suits a rainy Sunday or a good cry on the sofa with someone beside you. The pacing is easy and warm in its first half, then turns heavier and more deliberate as its two leads, a chatty, stuck-in-place young woman and a formerly vital man who has lost faith in his future, move toward a painful choice. Its intensity is mostly emotional: a brief, non-graphic accident is recalled, there is some low-key sex and a couple of tender bedroom scenes, and the tone is melancholy throughout, with no real violence or gore. It is for viewers who want a romance with real weight, and who are ready for tears.
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