Review of Me Before You (2016) by Miitan — 20 Sep 2017

This movie is about death of dignity. Louisa, who has to make money for her family, looked for a new job because the place she worked at had closed down. At the same time, a family is looking for someone to take care of their son, Will, who had an accidental injury. A few years ago before he met her, he had a traffic accident and his body was paralyzed except from his neck up. Through her job, she fell in love with him.

Will had been suicidal for a long time. When Louisa figured this out, she organized various trips and adventures to show Will that life is worth living, despite his disability. She planned some enjoyable activities and they had a lot of fun. However, he didn’t change his initial plan to kill himself because he thought he would never make her happy and also he wants her to live a normal life. In the end, he wrote a letter for her and took his life with dignity.

A few weeks after Will's death, she went to Paris and she reread the letter. In it he told her to “just live well” and he left her enough money to follow her dreams.

Actually Me Before You was originally a book. It was written by Jojo Mayes. It was published in 2012 and a sequel titled After You was released in 2015. The film was released in 2016. It received great literary acclaim, including being nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award. The movie stars Emilia Clarke as Louisa Clarke and Sam Claflin as Will Turner.

I usually watch a mystery movie like Saw instead of a romantic movie. The reason why I watched Me Before You is my favorite actor stars in it. Now it has become my favorite movie not only because I like him, but also because I like the story.

I didn’t know about dignity of death at all, so at first I didn’t think it’s good way to relieve from suffering because it’s a kind of suicide. However, through watching this movie, I understood how he felt so bad about his life. This movie is not only serious but also funny sometimes because Louisa is very outgoing and funny. Will had become a different person because of his traffic accident, but thanks to her character, he became like he was before he had the traffic accident.

Some people say that this promotes view that people are better off dead than disabled and it has suffered a backlash from many people in the disability rights movement. I can understand why they think so but this movie is worth watching. Since I think dignity of death is not a familiar topic for us, it gives us a good opportunity to think about it. If you watch this movie, you will definitely change the way you think about dignity of death. I hope you will like this review and watch Me Before You.