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My Life Without Me
2003
Ann is 23-years-old, she has 2 young daughters, a husband who spends more time unemployed than working, a mother who hates the world, a father who has spent the last ten years in jail, and a job as a night janitor in a university that she could never attend in the daytime. They all live in a trailer, on the yard of her mother's .. Read more
| Starring | Sarah Polley, Scott Speedman, Deborah Harry, Mark Ruffalo |
|---|---|
| Director | Isabel Coixet |
| Genres | Drama, Romance |
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My Life Without Me
Ann is 23-years-old, she has 2 young daughters, a husband who spends more time unemployed than working, a mother who hates the world, a father who has spent the last ten years in jail, and a job as a night janitor in a university that she could never attend in the daytime. They all live in a trailer, on the yard of her mother's house, in the outskirts of Vancouver. However, this gray existence changes completely when, after a medical check-up, a doctor tells Ann that she has very little time left on this earth. Learning that she has hardly two months to live, Ann decides to keep her condition a secret, and refuses to tell anybody--not even her husband--about her time remaining. She does not want people around her with long faces, and obsessed with her approaching death. Ann starts to make a list of things to do before dying, which she completes little by little. The list targets a wide range of things to which she must attend, including carrying out tasks like: saying exactly what she thinks to certain people; as well as getting herself some fake fingernails. Unexpectedly, Ann discovers an appetite for life that drives her to live her last days with a sensual and furious intensity she had not known before. During this short time, she prepares her daughters for a life without her; she meets a solitary wounded man, whom she seduces; and most importantly, Ann faces what remains of her life with a certain steadfast courage she never knew she possessed.
| Starring | Sarah Polley, Scott Speedman, Deborah Harry, Mark Ruffalo, Leonor Watling, Amanda Plummer, Julian Richings, Maria De Medeiros |
|---|---|
| Director | Isabel Coixet |
| Studio | HIGH FLIERS |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 46 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama, Romance |
| Language | English |
| Released | DVD: 10 Apr 2004 Production year: 2003 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (6)
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The small details we take for granted in everyday life are celebrated with passion in this warm and bittersweet drama. Springing out of tragedy, it follows a 23-year-old, working-class mother of two (Sarah Polley) who learns to appreciate the value of existence when she's diagnosed as terminally ill. Far from a maudlin “disease of the week” movie, this beautifully shot tale is a wonderfully perceptive, wryly amusing and occasionally surreal experience. Spanish writer/director Isabel Coixet's soulful heroine is as much an eternal optimist as she is a realist, despite her convict father, work-shy husband and resentful mother (singer Deborah Harry). Consequently, as she systematically puts her world in order so that life can continue without her, it's both heart-rending and joyfully uplifting. Polley delivers a customarily natural central performance, assisted by colourful turns from Maria de Medeiros and Mark Ruffalo. But it's Harry who's the real revelation, brooding her days away with the pain of the world etched into her weary, disillusioned face.
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Relentlessly feelgood weepie, in which our heroine, suffering from one of those terminal illnesses that leaves you radiant until the end, puts the world to rights.
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Most helpful member's review
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51 out of 64 people found this review helpful
Manipulative and false
Ann(Sarah Polley) is a young mother living by modest means with her loving husband(Scott Speedman) and their two young daughters. Ann's happiness is shattered by the news that she's suffering from advanced and incurable cancer. Her response is unusually calm and she decides not to reveal the news to any of her loved ones. Instead she starts to make plans for her remaining time in this world.
On her list is the desire to find love with a different man while she still can. Conveniently, one falls right into her lap, Hollywood's latest rent-a-nice-guy Mark Ruffalo, and he's head-over-heels for her.
This is a film that may leave viewers with a lot of questions. You may question the morality of Ann dying without letting her family know. You may question her decision to let another man fall in love with her when she knows she hasn't got much time left. You may even question how she hopes to keep her secret until the end, when the ravages of her desease will surely be noticeable. You may well ask the questions, because 'My Life Without Me' never does.
Spanish director Isabel Coixet shoots for a dreamlike, abstract profundity but falls flat on her face. There isn't anything believable in this maudlin, self-absorbed movie and it also suffers from a rare poor performance from Sarah Polley. The talented Polley, admittedly saddled with a poorly conceived character, never convinces us that she's dying, or a mother, or in love, and we're left with a void where the main character should be.
This is an endlessly irritating and trite piece of nonsense which has nothing to say on the subject of death, life or love. In fact it shies away from the matter, setting up Ann's husband with a potential future wife(also called, believe it or not, Ann) as if to soften the blow. Emotionally dishonest and, given the subject matter, downright offensive. -
Most recent members' review
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7 out of 12 people found this review helpful
Was expecting to like this as I thought I may connect with it, but actually it was utter pants!! Boring, melencholy no likeable characters. Bit like the Ferrairas in Eastenders, you know they are there, but you really couldnt care less about them.
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My Life Without Me
Ann is 23-years-old, she has 2 young daughters, a husband who spends more time unemployed than working, a mother who hates the world, a father who has spent the last ten years in jail, and a job as a night janitor in a university that she could never attend in the daytime. They all live in a ...
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