Me Without You

Released 2001
Stars Michelle Williams, Anna Friel, Kyle MacLachlan, Oliver Milburn, Trudie Styler, Marianne Denicourt
Directed by Sandra Goldbacher

As a man looking in from the outside, I have never ceased to be amazed by the rhythms of the female friendship, especially one that has evolved from the pre-teen or early teen years. Friendships between women are entirely different from those between men (or those between men and women). They are closer, more intimate, and with deeper emotional bonds. They are also subject to greater stresses and are more likely to blow apart, leaving behind scarred wreckage that can never be re-assembled. Me Without You offers a clear-eyed chronicle of a female friendship that is more complex and honest than anything represented in a Hollywood film.

The movie opens in 1973 London, where best friends Holly (Ella Jones) and Marina (Anna Popplewell) are finding ways to spend the long summer days. Despite their differences, Holly and Marina are inseparable... and there are plenty of differences. Holly is the "clever" one, whose looks and self-confidence don't match the strength of her mind. She's an only child and lives with conservative parents. Marina, on the other hand, is pretty, uninhibited, and not Holly's intellectual equal. Despite her wildness, however, she's actually vulnerable, with her outward boldness hiding a deep insecurity. Her pill-popping mother (Trudie Styler) and father (Nicky Henson) are separated. Marina is clearly the dominant one in the relationship; Holly follows along, at times almost in awe. By the time the movie has reached its third act in the late '80s, these two women are together simply because they have been close for so long that the idea of splitting up seems unthinkable. Yet their friendship is dysfunctional. The bonds between them are rotten, and the situation has become suffocating.

Summary by James Berardinelli

I loved the structure of this film--how it moved through the different periods of the girls' relationship as they grew older. It all seemed so natural that I never knew where it was going to go, and I thought the two leads were outstanding. The problem for me, though, is I don't care that much about female relationships, so my interest constantly waxed and waned. If you're at all interested in chick flicks, this is a good one. --Bill Alward, October 11, 2003