Love conquers all - or does it?

Rating: 6/10 (5 March 2017)

This film shook me quite a bit.
And I might be a chick, but usually I'm not one for chick flicks. They can be good to pass the time. At their worst they're flat out offensive, using serious themes to pretend they're more than they really are. Like the misery of the Third World - see 'Beyond Borders". Or cancer, see "The Fault In Our Stars".
So when I hear of a chick flick dealing with war or death or sickness, that's what I fear. Flat, mindless characters that are there just to fall in love in spite of everything, because, you know, love conquers all.
But for one: for all you could say about Emilia Clarke, she's never flat. She's lovely. She's a top-notch actress, and I can't imagine anyone who would give this role this much warmth and steadiness. People like Lou - grown-up children, with both childlike innocence and more wisdom than the rest of us - are a rare breed, but they do exist, and she captured this perfectly. Her eyebrows are a gift from god.
She was the first good thing about "Me Before You". I still wouldn't remember much of it if it wasn't for the second one - the ending. I've read a couple of reviews for this film and people seem to get the "live boldly" slogan as its message. They miss the fact that it's also a movie that debates assisted suicide. And actually argues in favor of it. As a person who has gone through a debilitating illness, I appreciate the fact that it doesn't maintain that any life is worth living or something along those lines. This is something that only people who don't know the first thing about being sick can state - and that I see mainstream cinema argue much too often.
I still don't think it's a good movie. I give it a 6, because most of it is calculated just to repeat the success of "The Fault In Our Stars" and such. But there was something visceral in it that cracked through the Hollywood facade and that cracked me in turn, because I didn't expect it there.
Watch it, somehow it's worth it.