![]() It’s a fictional story about how important the right to choose is. ![]() She defended the film to The Guardian, calling assessments like Clifford’s ”a fundamental misunderstanding of what the message is. The hashtag campaigns #MeBeforeEuthanasia and #MeBeforeAbleism cropped up, and messages like the one below have peppered Twitter for the past few weeks.ĭirector Thea Sharrock sees things differently. Some members of the disabled community have condemned the book and film, accusing both of promoting the message that a disabled life is not worth living. Instead, Will chooses to end his life with a heartbroken Louisa by his side. Will and Louisa fall in love-and, were this a sappier or more simplistic story, their mutual affection would be enough to change his mind. The plot centers on the last few months of his life as his new aide, Louisa Clark, tries to convince him that life is worth living. Traynor-a wealthy businessman and extreme sports enthusiast-becomes paralyzed and, despondent over his inability to live the way he once did, chooses euthanasia as a way out. Could Me Before You have avoided alienating the disabled community? (Caution: spoilers from both the book and the film to follow.)īoth versions of Me Before You, the book and the movie, tell essentially the same story. The film’s depiction of its male lead, a quadriplegic named Will Traynor, prompted backlash from disability rights activists who protested the London premiere and started a hashtag on Twitter calling for a boycott of the movie. But the movie wasn‘t an unmitigated success with everyone. Between the franchise draw of Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke and Hunger Games alum Sam Claflin and a built-in audience of book fans, the film almost made back its modest $20 million budget in a single weekend-a huge triumph for its all-female writing, producing, and directing team. had a substantial hit with its adaptation of Jojo Moyes’s weepy novel Me Before You. Everyone is gorgeous and impossible not to love.This week, Warner Bros. The messier duties of caring for Will are handled by male nurse Nathan (Stephen Peacocke), also a looker. Like the book by Moyes, who wrote the script, the film glosses over suffering with beauty. But the movie keeps averting its eyes when things get uncomfortable about the tangle of sex and frustration. Peering at her neckline, he says, “you wouldn’t let me near those breasts if I wasn’t in this chair.” The two share a few PG-13 kisses as Lou tries to show Will the possibilities in choosing life. I’m thinking of a scene in which Will whirls Lou around a dance floor in his wheelchair. A few moments allow both actors to register strongly. Will thinks Lou’s clothes are ridiculous but falls - as he must - for the real her. He teaches Lou about Mozart and subtitled movies and admits to a weakness for Michael Bay’s Armageddon (he lost me there). But the actress is genuinely endearing, as is the admirably dry-eyed and acid-tongued Claflin. His wealthy family owns the British castle right over the hill from Lou’s humble abode. Will is an impossibly handsome London financier who was paralyzed two years ago when a motorcycle accident ended a lifestyle that would have qualified him for the best season ever of The Bachelor. Lou becomes the caretaker for blue-blood quadriplegic Will Traynor, played with winning charm by Sam Claflin of The Hunger Games franchise. But here she plays brunette, plain-Jane Louisa “Lou” Clark, from a rowdy, working-class British family. Emilia Clarke is best known as the blond, dragon-taming Khaleesi on Game of Thrones. Surprise: Me Before You isn’t an unduly painful endurance test.įor that, thank the two captivating actors cast as the doomed lovers. The few dudes in attendance sat stoically, resigned to their fate or maybe holding back their feelings. I watched the film version of Jojo Moyes’ 2012 bestseller surrounded by women who laughed through their tears and vice versa. In movie weepies, from last century’s Love Story to the millennial likes of The Fault in Our Stars and anything by Nicholas Sparks, death is the ultimate aphrodisiac. ![]()
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