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ME WITHOUT YOU Send This Review to a Friend
Friendships can be outgrown, sometimes by moving in different directions and sometimes by realization that the friendship has become destructive. There's a bit of both in Sandra Goldbacher's "Me Without You," which traces the bonds between two girls whose childhood pact to be friends forever takes them through more than two decades in England.
Goldbacher, who also wrote the screenplay with Laurence Coriat, sets the story against the background of music and fashions reflecting the period, beginning in 1973. The director's best move was the casting--Anna Friel as the more dominant Marina, the sort of woman who makes people take notice of her, and Michelle Williams as Holly, who is insecure and envious of Marina. But Marina has another side to her. She's quite a mess, which results in nasty and exploitative as well as self-destructive behavior.
It takes years for Holly to catch on to her friend's true nature, and as one might expect, feelings for a man become a catalyst. It is clear that Holly needs to be her own person.
Apart from the level of the acting, the film has a contrived feeling and the ups and downs of the relationship and related events tend toward the tedious, even though there are moments when the story seems all too accurate and the character study perceptive. Men can go through a similar pattern, but this seems more like a film that will appeal to women, since it is about women and might trigger recognition. A Samuel Goldwyn and Fireworks Pictures release.
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