Me Before You [DVD] [2016]

I first watched this film without any prior knowledge and, going by the cover picture, expected a bit of light escapism. It's not quite what I got. There is so much more. It is the story of Lou, a quirky working class girl, rather naive but with endless good humour. She takes a temporary job as caregiver for a young quadriplegic, fabulously wealthy Will Traynor. He is depressed and disagreeable. She thinks he is an arrogant snob, he thinks she is crazy. There you have it: all the ingredients for a fluffly romcom.Just when the scene is set for the fun part of these two characters overcoming their antagonism, Lou overhears a conversation and learns that Will is intending to travel to Switzerland to end his life by meansof assisted suicide when her six months contract is over. Lou decides to use the time she has left with Will, trying to convince him that life is worth living. What follows is one of the most engaging romances I have seen in years. But will her love be enough to rekindle his spirit?The film is well cast, with good performances from all actors involved. Emilia Clarke undisputedly owns the film. She is wonderfully, deliriously, OTT as the lovable Lou, with eyebrows that deserve an acting credit all of their own. Her no nonsense working class family and rather unlikable boyfriend are a bit on the nose, almost in the fashion of a soap. This works well and helps emphasize the class difference between them and the Traynors, who are portrayed in a beautifully restrained way by the always wonderful Janet McTeer as Will's mother and veteran actor Charles Dance in an unexpectedly warm, almost tender, role as his father. Stephen Peacocke as the Australian male nurse attendant is supremely likable and hunky enough to give the ladies something to lust after.The outstanding actor is, for me, Sam Claflin. Instead of falling into the trap of shamelessly overacting the disabled character, he underplays it beautifully. Will is, after all, a man who wants, quite literally, to crawl into a hole and pull it in behind him. With nothing more than his voice and a mobile face at his disposal, Claflin brings his character to life. He made me deeply care for him, willing him to chose life, while feeling, quite distinctly, that this is a man who is at the end of his tether, totally and utterly exhausted. And yet, he manages, seemingly effortlessly, to dominate the one scene in the film where he is allowed to outshine everybody else.Overall, a resounding two thumbs up for this film. Buy it, watch it, enjoy it, talk about it. For me, it worked on many levels. See what you get out of it.

Well, this was not what i was expecting at all.I have not read the book, had not read the reviews, went in totally blind, and ended up having my heart ripped out through my throat.It is one of the most though provoking films i have seen in a very long time. I dont think i have cried this much at a film since the notebook. When a film leaves you with gut wrenching sobbing, you know that everyone involved has done their job, and done it well. Mind you it does not help to have Ed Sheeran playing at the worst parts either :0(Will is a yuppy for want of a better word, high flying london city banker , has it all, posh flat, posh girlfriend, can do anything and everything he desires, and then one day on his way to work a motorbike hits him and he becomes a quadriplegic.Louisa Clark, is a bright little ray of sunshine in wills dark world, employed by his mother as a companion, Louisa sets out to make wills life worth living again, and during their time together louisa falls hopelessly in love with will and vice versa.However this is no typical love story dammit, and i was actually shouting at the screen saying oh you better not, but they did and my heart was yanked out from under me.Its hopelessly romantic but beautifully tragic, even though i wished for the fairytale, to have that fairytale would of been utterly selfish.Louisa makes will feel like a man again, something he thought he would never feel again, and will makes louisa realise her dreams. To be completely true to the struggle of a man and his disabilities and to see what pain he is in, and what his ultimate choice is, is both enlightening and terrifying, and as a disabled person who has thought about following the same path, i want to thank the film makers for doing it so wonderfully.A gut wrenching tale of life, dreams, and pure love.Take some tissues, in fact take the whole damn box.

I seen this film back in June of this year in the cinemas with my mom and we both loved the film. The story tells the tale of a young woman named Lou Clark(Louisa for full)played by Emilia Clarke who lost her current job at the cafe and goes into a job office where the man in the office tells her that a well off couple are looking for a carer for their son who was involved in an accident causing him to lose his walk from the neck down and is confided in a wheelchair. Louisa of course gets the job offer and she meets the dashing yet arrogant wheelchair bounded patient Will Trainor played by Sam Clafflin who is also been cared for by Nathan played by Stephen Peacocke from Home & Away. At first both Will and Louisa don't see eye to eye but even though she has a boyfriend named Patrick played by Neville Longbottom himself Matthew Lewis and Will already had a fiance who dumped him for another man as she found out he was confided in a wheelchair,love of course blossoms between the two and Lou and Will go off on crazy adventures together. But Will wants to end his life after the 6 months. So will he do it?Overall this film got alot of controversy because of its theme on Suicide. The film focuses alot on this topic and I didn't really mind as it was very clever and risky for the director of this movie to actually go into this topic in a romantic drama. The film reminds me alot like Dying Young with Julia Roberts who had to look after a man who was dying of leukemia.Emilia was great as Lou she was funny quirky and she had a double watt smile. Although the only flaw I had on her was the weird facial expressions with what she does to her eyebrows. Sam as Will was very good. He was handsome,rich and he reminded me an awful lot like James Marsden from Enchanted. Also starring Jenna Coleman and Charles Dance this film will definetly tug at your heart strings.DVD includes Me Before You: From Page to Screen,Outtakes and deleted scenes. The rating is 12 for moderate sex,and sucide references.Thumbs up