ME WITHOUT YOU
"Sandra Goldbacher's small, psychologically savvy film is the story
of a toxic friendship, established in early childhood, whose poisons
continue to circulate and infect both partners well into their adult
lives...If I didn't detest the term codependent because it shrink-wraps
human feeling into a vague, pseudoclinical symptom, I would use it
to describe this destructive bond...Under its drab contemporary trappings,
the movie is really a Jane Austen-like moral parable in which goodness
is rewarded and selfishness punished." --Stephen Holden, The New York
Times
"...a soporific Brit coming-of-age picture that runs 107 minutes--but
easily feels twice as long. Though it boasts excellent performances
by Anna Friel and Michelle Williams as bosom buddies whose lives meander
over three decades, it plods on with a wearying predictability and
some truly terrible dialogue." --Lou Lumenick, The New York Post
"There's a beautifully rounded maturity at work in 'Me Without You,'
from the writing to the acting to the direction...This film's intelligence
and forthrightness about the things women sometimes do to one another--and
its resoluteness about where the line should be drawn in terms of
selflessness between friends--set it head and shoulders above most
contemporary movies that deal with friendships between women." --Stephanie
Zacharek, Salon.com
"Bleaker than its nostalgic premise (and soundtrack) would suggest,
'Me Without You' observes a close friendship over the course of nearly
three decades; by 'friendship,' director Sandra Goldbacher means a
state of ruinous symbiosis, sustained by lies, denial, and emotional
blackmail...Essentially humorless, 'Me Without You' manages some pleasing
textures all the same: The period design is attentive, the soundtrack
eclectic enough if not particularly well integrated (in a grossly
idiotic faux pas, news of an OD prompts a few bars of Nick Drake)..."
--Dennis Lim, The Village Voice
"This tough, unsentimental British film tells the story of two childhood
girlfriends and next-door neighbors who grow into co-dependent, largely
dysfunctional adults...The actors are first-rate across the board.
[Anna] Friel, changing with each leap in time, plays Marina like an
aging flamenco dancer. The English actress' sultriness and flamboyance
are at first exhilarating, but with repetition and time--plus her
character's growing resemblance to her floozy mom--she fades into
annoying self-parody. [Michelle] Williams, who was born and brought
up in Montana, has the more nuanced role, and handles it and the British
accent with surprising adeptness." --Jack Mathews, The New York Daily
News
"The movie's milieu wanders from 'The Ice Storm' with a sense of humor,
to 'Heavenly Creatures' sans homicide, but has a standout performance
by Michelle Williams, whose history in 'Dawson's Creek' and 'Halloween:
H2O' has hardly prepared us for her portrait of Holly, a kind of Everywoman
trapped in her own prison of self-doubt and dubious ideals." --John
Anderson, Newsday
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