Podcasts

Woman Around Town’s Editor Charlene Giannetti and writers for the website talk with the women and men making news in New York, Washington, D.C., and other cities around the world. Thanks to Ian Herman for his wonderful piano introduction.

Jojo Moyes

Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You

06/03/2016

Get out the tissues.

Jojo Moyes’ bestselling novel comes to the big screen starring the adorable Emilia Clarke (sans her dragons) and the very appealing Sam Claflin (from The Hunger Games). Moyes also wrote the screenplay, so the film sticks closely to the book, something that will undoubtedly please her fans.

Moyes’ story is a twist on the familiar theme of star-crossed lovers. When Louisa Clark (Clarke) loses her waitress job, she finds employment as a caregiver and companion to Will Traynor (Claflin) a quadriplegic whose wealthy family lives in a castle that for centuries has dominated the landscape in a picturesque British town. Will, despondent about his physical condition, wants to end his life at Dignitas, an assisted suicide organization based in Switzerland. While Will’s father (Charles Dance) understands his son’s decision, Will’s mother, Camilla (Janet McTeer) hopes to change his mind. A skilled nurse, Nathan (Stephen Peacocke), takes care of Will’s bodily needs, but Camilla hires Lou hoping the quirky young woman can lift Will’s spirits and convince him to keep living.

ME BEFORE YOU

Charles Dance and Janet McTeer

Lou and Will are polar opposites. Lou’s father, Bernard (Brendan Coyle, Bates from Downton Abbey), has lost his job and Lou, putting her own future on hold, is supporting the family. She’s never been outside her small town, never attended a concert, and never watched a foreign film with subtitles. Her boyfriend, Patrick (Matthew Lewis) is a self-absorbed exercise fanatic. (For Lou’s birthday, he gives her a necklace that says “Patrick.”) Before his accident, Will was a star at his firm and dazzled his friends with his athletic ability. “I loved my life,” he tells Lou. The morning of his accident, he gave in to his girlfriend’s urging not to ride his motorcycle in the rain and, as fate would have it, was struck by another motorcycle.

Lou and Will get off to a bad start. He resents her presence, his behavior condescending, even hostile. Lou, however, is willing to put up with a lot to keep the well-paying job. She’s also a Pollyanna, able to see something positive in even Will’s situation. Her appearance alone serves to pick up Will’s spirits. Lou favors fuzzy pastel sweaters, brightly patterned skirts, and whimsical shoes. Predictably, Will’s icy attitude begins to thaw. He introduces Lou to foreign films and agrees to attend a Mozart concert. When he’s invited to his ex-girlfriend’s wedding, he asks Lou to go with him. In Lou’s presence, he seems less self-conscious about his disability, even taking a turn on the dance floor in his wheelchair with Lou on his lap.

ME BEFORE YOU

Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin

While Will seems happier, he hasn’t changed his mind about ending his life and the 60 days he promised his parents to wait is nearly at an end. Lou, however, refuses to give up, pressing Will to go on a dream vacation. Accompanied by Nathan, the three fly on a private jet to a tropical island. While the word “love” is never spoken, it’s obvious the two have indeed fallen for each other. On a moonlit beach, they share a kiss. But that intimate moment proves frustrating for Will, bringing home that he would never be able to have the type of relationship with Lou that he truly wants and she deserves. (Get those tissues ready.)

Clarke and Claflin have wonderful chemistry. Director Thea Sharrock allows the pair’s relationship to unfold slowly so we are able to watch these two talented actors test each other and then finally come together. Clarke’s face is particularly expressive and she’s wonderful to watch. Fans of Game of Thrones will enjoy seeing her in an entirely different role. Claflin has a tough job, conveying an array of emotions while remaining immobile. The scenes where Will’s condition takes a turn for the worse are particularly tense, underlining how even with the best of care a quadriplegic’s health is sometimes precarious.

ME BEFORE YOU

Sam Claflin and Stephen Peacocke

Moyes’ book received uniformly positive reviews when it was first published in 2012 and went on to become an international bestseller. Yet even before the film’s opening, disability advocates have protested what they feel are problematic messages. Will’s charge to Lou to “live fully”, seems to imply, the groups say, that only able-bodied people can do so and that euthanasia becomes a likely choice. (Other films besides Me After YouMillion Dollar Baby and Whose Life Is It Anyway? – have shown individuals with paralyzing injuries fighting for the right to die.) Moyes and the film’s stars have emphasized that Me Before You is simply one story (and a fictional one at that) about one man’s decision. And there has been praise for the book, specifically from The Christopher Reeve Foundation. (See Robin Weaver’s interview with Jojo Moyes.)

With robust sales for the book, the film is expected to do well at the box office. In a summer filled with super heroes and sequels, Me Before You provides an alternative for moviegoers. If this movie also sparks a discussion about how the disabled are portrayed in all forms of media, that would be a very positive outcome.

Me After You opens nationwide June 3, 2016.

Photos from Warner Bros.

Five Great Reads for Mother’s Day

05/08/2016

Maternal bonds have always been one of the most enduring themes in literature.  With Mother’s Day coming up let’s take a look at these examples of important mother-child stories.

The Good Mother by Sue Miller (1986) Recent divorcee Anne Dunlap lives for two things; her young daughter Molly and her lover Leo the first man to awaken sexual passion in her. But then her relationship with Leo is used against her by her ex-husband in the custody battle for Molly.  Miller examines how society has such rigid attitudes towards maternity and remains uncomfortable with the idea of mothers as sexual, autonomous beings in their own right.  In 1988 it was adapted into a movie starring Liam Neeson and Diane Keaton.

Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987) Set after the American Civil War, this devastating novel of grief and guilt examines the legacy of slavery through the story of Sethe an escaped slave who slays her own child rather than allow her to be re-enslaved. It was a finalist for the 1987 National Book Award, won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988, and is now part of the canon and assigned in lots of college classes.  The 1998 film adaption stars Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover.

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (1989) Focusing on four Chinese American immigrant families in San Francisco you get three mothers and four daughters, (the final mother dies before the novel begins,) and their relationships with one another examining how the past is never the past and how trauma can echo across generations. It was a widely praised best seller that spawned a movie adaption in 1993.

The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante (2006) Middle aged divorcee Leda is alone for the first time after her daughters go to live with their father. Initially exhilarated by her sense of freedom an encounter with a young family prompts serious introspection as Leda considers whether she should have even had children in the first place.

One Plus One by Jojo Moyes (2014) Single mom Jess Thomas has two jobs and two demanding children. But her (possible) salvation comes in the form of tech millionaire Geeky Ed whose house she cleans and who offers to help drive her family to the Math Olympiad so her genius daughter can compete. But Geeky Ed has issues of his own, this is yet another comedy/romance from the author of Me Before You. 

Top photo: Bigstock