‘Me Before You’ is based on the bestselling novel by Jojo Moyes, so I had some scepticism before I watched. Book to film adaptations aren’t always great and don’t always don’t always do the original story justice. ‘Me Before You’ has the classic boy meets girl, and they fall in love scenario. But it looks to pluck on heart strings of its audience with a turbulent and uncertain romance story. Think ‘The Fault In Our Stars’ meets ‘The Notebook’… tragic romance, amirite?
When Louisa Clark (Emilia Clarke) is in search of a new job, she falls into the position of being a full-time carer for Will Traynor (Sam Claflin). When Louisa first starts she struggles to find any middle ground with Will because he’s broken physically and emotionally. Despite being worlds apart they manage to fall for one another and allow each other to see their worlds in new perspectives. What makes this film special is the way it looks into human emotion and explores the nature of falling in love. I think it’s almost like a fictional anthropology study, specialising in the way humankind loves.
Sam Claflin gives a convincing performance as Will and works well with the physical movement involved with his character. Emilia Clarke is a loving protagonist as Louisa, with her larger than life smile and warm personality. There is something so genuine about Will and Louisa’s relationship, and I couldn’t help but route for them and their happiness as a couple. At times it was hard to watch, but the actors really were the thing that held this film together. Jenna Coleman as Katrina Clark also gave a subtle contribution to the film – I could relate to her in the sense that she knew what was going on, but couldn’t truly understand what Will and Louisa were feeling.
‘Me Before You’ is a lot of emotion, and at times maybe too much? Held together by a talented cast and a few questionable fashion choices from Emilia Clarke.
‘Me Before You’ is available on Blu-ray and DVD now.
3/5
Featured image courtesy of Think Jam.
