ME Before You arrived in UK cinemas on Friday (June 3). Quays News entertainment reporter Ellen Ward went to see it for us…
Me Before You is a tragic love story that will rip your heart out and stomp on it.
William Traynor (Sam Claflin) is a wealthy recently paralysed man whose mother is looking for a carer for her son. He was active until he was in a motorbike accident. Louisa Clark (Emilia Clarke) lost her job at her village café with no ambitions and ended up at the job centre searching for any job to support her family.
She ends up getting employed as the carer due to her chatty and cheerful personality and tries her best to do her job. This is a difficult due to Traynor being cold and distant while hating his life and the pain he suffers.
They eventually start bonding and finally fall in love. Clark realised that she didn’t love her boyfriend Patrick (Matthew Lewis) who she had been with for seven years and had nothing in common with. He was a runner who cared more about fitness than his girlfriend.
Even though he didn’t seem to know anything about his girlfriend, as soon as Traynor showed up at Clark’s birthday party he seemed to get very territorial over her. It was hilarious to see him give her a heart shaped necklace with his name on it. She obviously hated it and tried to disguise her disappointment with enthusiasm. Who wouldn’t hate it?
But her acting was short-lived when Traynor got her some bumblebee tights like the ones she had when she was younger. Patrick’s face soon dropped when Clark ran out the room squealing that she was going to try them on. I couldn’t help the chuckle that came out of me as Traynor gave Patrick a very smirk look.
me before you made rossella cry her spray tan off? pic.twitter.com/wpIVKllhjO
— bella (@calabrese_bella) June 7, 2016
Even though there were some very funny scenes the film ends up taking a sudden path which ends in heartbreak and sadness.
I was not expecting this take on the film and it really caught me off guard. Half way through I was laughing out loud at jokes and then a few minutes later I was in tears. Many others had the same reaction especially after first reading the book by Jojo Moyes.
However some people did find that the story was filled with stereotypes and a misrepresentation of the disabled. Some people even go as far as saying that the movies message is that if you are disabled then you have nothing to live for.
Me Before You is made by ignorant able-bodied people, to cater to ignorant able-bodied people. It's awful and cruel to real disabled people.
— moved to @opheliajcbrown (@bandaidknees) June 7, 2016
the film makes disability look like a tragedy and that disabled people are better off dead. It uses a disability as a prop.
— moved to @opheliajcbrown (@bandaidknees) June 7, 2016
While some people took this message from this movie as bad, I however thought that Traynor teaches Clark that she needs to live her life and not settle for anything less than what she deserves. Signifying to the audience that you should live every moment as it is your last and do something with your life and enjoy it.
This movie is definitely a must see but if you don’t like crying then avoid it at all cost.
Certification: PG-13
Running time: 1hr 50 mins
By Ellen Ward
@hypermeerkat1
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