Cheap My Life Without Me (DVD) (Sarah Polley, Scott Speedman, Leonor Watling, Mark Ruffalo) (Isabel Coixet) Price

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Customer Reviews of My Life Without Me

A Little Gem of a Quiet Film
MY LIFE WITHOUT ME is one of those American made Indies that rekindles faith that we DO know how to make these small, character driven films that have the courage to make a social statement or two and still be wholly entertaining. Isabel Coixet is the creator here and she has assembled a cast that combines highly experienced professionals with actors less well known and makes an ensemble movie that works on every level. There is no giving away the plot in this outing, as from the very first words uttered you know that you are going to 'live through' the dying process of Ann, the perfect mother and wife who incidentally has advanced metastatic ovarian cancer when she first visits her doctor for nausea. Sarah Polley creates a believable lead, holding back the gush and the devastation that accompany her discovery, and instead gives us a young woman who makes a 'list of things to do before I die' and then proceeds on with her life and its new order until she does indeed die. Along the way we get to know her husband Don (played with wit, sensuality, and empathy by Scott Speedman), her co-worker - the ever-dieting Laurie (Amanda Plummer), her assignation lover Lee (Mark Rufallo, always growing as an actor), her mother (Deborah Harry), her hairdresser (Maria de Medeiros), her father (Alfred Molina in a brief but perfectly acted cameo), and a new friend Ann (Leonor Watling - watch this actress...). The story borders on morose but never quite crosses over and it is to Coixet's credit that what could have been a sloppy soap opera outing proves to be a lesson on the value of living. An excellent film on all counts.

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You can't help but like it
This film has the most morose premise imaginable - the heroine, Ann (Sarah Polley), is informed by a stiff-lipped doctor she has just a couple of months to live and hence the rest of the story is based around how she deals with this stark reality.
Ann however does not even break down in front of the barely empathic GP, she somehow holds it together and begins her list of things to do before she dies. Her resilience is almost unbelievable, in fact many would question whether such a reaction to imminent death would be possible in real life. However in the context of this film it works because Sarah Polleys performance is that good that she makes palpable what would otherwise be ludicrous fantasy, such as her ability to keep the horrible fact she has advanced cancer from everyone she knows while calmly pursuing her final list of goals.
In fact the whole cast is superb. Her affair with a man she meets in a laundromat (Mark Ruffalo) is very brief however entails some of the most powerful drama I have seen in a film. Thankfully the film does not depict her very last days as it would be too much for the viewer to take, who like me will be completely in awe of Ann or perhaps repulsed by the selfishness of her affair and the fact that she hides the truth from those she loves. Instead of feeling drained by the emotional trauma that Ann endures the film turns out to be one of the most heart-warming ever.

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Carpe Diem
MLWM is a poignent movie and real people and a real life. It's beautiful and in the end it makes you think about how important life is.