Talkie Tuesday: Me Before You

"Live boldly. Push yourself. Don't settle."

Hello everyone!

This is me touching base with my last movie review for the foreseeable future this week, as next week begins the marathon that is Game of Thrones! 

That's right, the new season premieres this coming Sunday so you can definitely expect blog posts related to the relevant episodes every Tuesday until after the season end, at which point I'll go back to movies and the usual reviews.

For today, however, what I'm going to talk about is a movie most of you have probably already seen, or you've read the book, or maybe you're like me and are super late to this train.

I'm talking about Me Before You.

Which, admittedly, had its hype a while ago really, but for some reason I never did get to it, or into it, before heading to the coast for a mini vacation this last time.

The movie opens up with one of the main characters, Will, whose girlfriend tells him that taking his motorcycle to work is a no go because it's raining. So he doesn't take it, but instead gets hit by another motorcycle, and ends up being paralysed from the neck down.

Our other main character, Lou, works at a small café where she literally sells sweets to little old ladies, but unfortunately the owner has to let her off, and she's now jobless and stuck at home with her parents and sister. But her sister is going back to university because a spot opened up again, so she really does need to find a job to help the family, since her father has also been fired only recently and they need the money.

After several tries (and fails) at different jobs, Lou eventually applies for caregiver/companion to the paralysed Will, an ad which his mother placed since she feels like Will could really use someone else in his life.

What Lou doesn't expect is how crass and obnoxious Will is, despite the fact he basically has no mobility left. Still, considering that he was previously extremely athletic and active and all over the place, I suppose it's understandable that he basically hates himself and his life right about now. The cherry on top happens when his ex-girlfriend and best friend (well, ex-best friend) announce they're getting married, at which point Lou tells Will that he definitely can be an arse to them, they deserve it, but she doesn't, so he might as well stuff it.

As she seems to be the only one who actually stands up to him, Will is part shocked into silence and part intrigued, from where we can now move on and have the two of them actually communicate and learn about one another, outside of what is obvious.

Meaning, Lou in her quirky wardrobe and Will with his attitude.

Lou begins to spend more and more time with him, trying to come up with things for him to do so that he could still experience some life, which shows in her relationship with her boyfriend, Patrick (played by Matthew Lewis and I will cheerfuly admit that I was too busy staring at his body to figure out it was Neville Longbottom), but then again I got the feeling that it was always sort of an uneven and comfortable one anyway, since he spends most of his time running, really.

Anyway, through an accidental run-in, Lou learns that Will had promised his mother six more months before he will take his own life, after a previously failed attempt, so she throws herself into trying to change his mind.

Which includes, but isn't limited to, taking him to watch horse racing, having dinner with her family, and a holiday away in the tropics.

Oh, they also go to that wedding he was invited to and pretty much scandalise everyone.

Will catches a chill once, and pneumonia the second time, which proves how weak his immune system is since his accident, but he does seem to enjoy himself, at least on vacation, at which point Lou admits that she's fallen in love with him (and she and Patrick had broken things off, too). But Will says she hasn't changed his mind, because the agony of wanting to do things, especially with her by his side, and being unable to, is more than he can bear, so he'll still go ahead with his plan.

Heartbroken, Lou initially doesn't want anything more to do with him or his family, but her father talks to her and convinces her she'll feel worse if she's not there (also, as Will had been indirectly responsible for that unemployment, he found Lou's dad a new job). This prompts Lou to travel to Switzerland, to the organisation Dignitas, where she and Will's parens are with him at the end.

Several weeks later, we see Lou in Paris, at a café she and Will had previously talked about, reading Will's last letter to her in which he advises her which perfume to buy (she does), to keep wearing bumblebee thighs (she so does) and that he has left her just enough money to spread her wings and start life away from her family. Above all, he urges her to live.

The movie has a sentimental cast to it, but it didn't actually bring me to tears as much a I had expected it would. Emilia Clarke was good as Lou, but as many people as have said she's brilliant, I'd have to politely disagree. She was good, but half the time her expression remained exactly the same (which is to say, mildly puzzled and half-shocked), and that was it.

Sam Claflin, on the other hand, had a difficult time in playing someone that paralysed, and maybe I'm biased because I really enjoy his acting expertise, but I enjoyed his portrayal a whole lot more.

Add to that Matt Lewis (dayum!), Janet McTeer and Charles Dance, and you get a really good cast! I still giggle thinking about the Lady of the Rivers and Tywin Lannister, married.

All in all, it was a good, emotional movie, and although some things made me angle my head a bit and go 'huh?', most of it was enjoyable and dealt with topics that are still quite controversial in a way which, hopefully, won't get too many people up in arms. At the end of the day, our decisions are our own, after all, not belonging to someone else.

xx

*images and video not mine