110 minutes, Romance/Drama, PG

Has this year’s tear-jerker made its arrival to our big screens?

Based on the novel published in 2012 of the same name by Jojo Moyes (who also writes the film screenplay), it features some of TV’s hottest stars. Emilia Clarke (TV Series “Game of Thrones”) is Lou, a kind yet rather awkward young lady, desperately trying to find employment. When she accepts the role to be the carer for Will (Sam Claflin – Finnick from THE HUNGER GAMES films), who is paralysed as a result of a road accident, the two form a special bond.

Ok, so we can’t hide the fact ME BEFORE YOU is chick-flick, through and through! Or that for half its length, Sam Claflin displays as much emotion as Jamie Dornan in FIFTY SHADES OF GREY! But if you think for one moment that’s enough to detract you away from ME BEFORE YOU, think again.

While this love story inevitably finds its way to your heart strings, it is in fact what this story is conveying thematically, and how it goes about it, that is ultimately its powerful instrument. Unlike so many others in its field, what works superbly for ME BEFORE YOU is the TLC it’s handled with. Adequate time is taken to convincingly establish and develop the bond that is formed between Lou & Will. While some might see this as a thankless time-waster, it results in ME BEFORE YOU never feeling contrived. What unfolds, does so by forces of nature, rather than force. I also valued its resistance in resorting to melodrama. After his wooden start and her slightly uncertain beginning, Claflin & Clarke clock-up a genuine and irresistibly intimate chemistry. Once the credits have passed, ME BEFORE YOU remains heartbreaking on a number of levels, yet it is the beautifully executed key themes of the film that rise above the hurt this gently-handled romantic drama ought to be remembered by.

So, has this year’s tear-jerker made its arrival to our big screens in the form of ME BEFORE YOU? You bet!

4 out of 5

ME BEFORE YOU – Film Trailer

Footnote to Parents 
PG for mild themes, sexual references and some coarse language

Moviedoc wishes to thank Village Roadshow and Village Cinemas Jam Factory for the invitation to the Media Screening of ME BEFORE YOU.

Review by Moviedoc 
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