Me Before You Review

"Live boldly. Push yourself. Don't settle."


Me Before You was directed by Thea Sharrock and is based around the novel Me Before You written by Jojo Moyes. The film stars Sam Claflin as Will Traynor, Emilia Clarke as Lou Clark and Stephen Peacocke as Nathan. The film follows Lou Clark as she searches for a new job and ends up caring for Will Traynor a young man who has been paralysed after being involved in an accident. (I won't spoil the rest of the film for you!)

I just wanted to start off by saying that I haven't read the book and have only seen the film so I apologise if i get any details wrong but Lets start off with what I enjoyed about the film, I felt both actors in the lead roles of Will and Lou both gave good performances especially Emilia Clarke who plays Lou. Lou's character is very interesting not only is she extremely quirky (I don't think you can get much quirkier!) in her mannerisms but also by the choice of clothing that she wears, which for me fitted the character perfectly. I also need to mention that even though this might sound strange (really strange) but the character of Lou has the most expressive eyebrows that I have ever seen in a film! and do you know what... it really suited the character as it matched how quirky the character was just by her eyebrows being so expressive. Lou brings a lot of the comic relief to the film which is down to her personality but the comic relief is a really strong area of the film. I also think that Sam Clafin did a good job at playing a character who is left paralysed and you do get to see the difficulties that the character faces on a daily basis because of his paralysis, which creates some of the more moving and sometimes more upsetting scenes during the film (especially during that third act!). I would also like to mention that this film had some really beautiful cinematography in places, one of my favourite shots of the film is during the winter sequence and involves Lou walking through the snow on a winters day which looked stunning on the big screen.

There are also some areas of the film that I was not so keen on or I felt could of been developed during the duration of the film for example I would of wanted a bit more development with Lou's family (not sure how much development is given in the book), personally I would of liked to seen how desperate the family where especially in their financial situations which brings the two main characters together, personally I felt the film rushed over this at the beginning of the film and I personally would of liked abit more of an explanation as to why they are in this current state. I also think in some parts the film started to drag a little this was in some of the scenes involving the building of a friendship between Lou and Will, I understand its important to develop their relationship over the duration of the film but it did start to drag (well for me anyway). I also think that the film could of handled the argument of assistant dying a bit better as I personally felt as if this was overlooked and was only really mentioned by a couple of lines of dialogue without really exploring the issues involved in the debate.

Overall I thought the film was ok, I felt connected to both of the characters and enjoyed following there journey developing as people together but I feel as if the film could of been stronger if certain areas of the film were explored abit more (but that's just me). If you have read the book I would recommend seeing this film and I am very tempted to give the book a read to see if they do explore and expand upon some points like the families financial situation and the argument over assisted dying.

Verdict: 3 out of 5 stars