As buzz builds around the highly anticipated novel-turned-film “Me Before You,” mixed reviews are starting to generate in regards to its depiction of people with disabilities.
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The film, an adaptation of Jojo Moyes’ novel of the same name, follows the lives of Louisa Clark (Emilia Clarke) — a recently unemployed woman — and Will Traynor (Sam Claflin), a wealthy man who became a quadroplegic two years before. The story begins when the two connect and Clarke becomes Claflin’s caregiver.
As a result of his disability, Traynor contemplates suicide, a topic not taken lightly when it comes to those with physical disabilities.
For instance, Emily Ladau, a self-proclaimed “physically disabled woman who uses a wheelchair and believes all lives have value,”; writes, “The entire premise rests on the belief that life with a disability is not worth living… In spite of each of the characters in Will’s life trying to persuade him otherwise, the fact remains that Moyes imagines a world in which disability is synonymous with misery and assisted suicide is the only solution.”;
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On the other hand, “Me Before You” generated positive feedback from other disability activists. Moyes explained: “The Christopher Reeve Foundation reached out to me and has been extremely supportive of Me Before You.”;
The film’s director, Thea Sharrock, has responded to the criticism, telling The Hollywood Reporter that she didn’t expect the backlash.
“I didn’t quite anticipate this,”; Sharrock tells THR. “The disappointing thing is when people make a protest when they haven’t either read the book or seen the film. I have no problem with people seeing this film and not liking it for 101 different reasons; you go into every project with that as a possibility. I understood going into it how vulnerable a topic it is and susceptible to very strong opinions. It has big themes in it that are very easy to make quick judgments on.”;
The problem, she believes, is that those who criticize the film have “a fundamental misunderstanding of what the message is. I was attracted to this because I love the almost traditional love story that lies behind it. It reminds me of films that I don’t think have been made for a while that used to be made quite a lot. And I love the bravery of the studios wanting to produce such a film. It’s a fictional story about how important the right to choose is. The message of the film is to live boldly, push yourself, don’t settle.”;
