MY LIFE WITHOUT ME ------------------
Ann (Sarah Polley, "No Such Thing") is a twenty-three year old school janitor who lives in a small trailer in her mother's (Deborah Harry, "Spun") backyard with her unemployed husband Dan (Scott Speedman, "Dark Blue") and two young daughters. When she passes out at work and goes for an exam, a shy young doctor (Julian Richings) must deliver almost incomprehensible news - Ann has terminal cancer and 2-3 months left to live. Resolved to tell no one of her fate, Ann writes a list of things she wants to accomplish before she has to contemplate "My Life Without Me."
Director Isabel Coixet ("A los que Aman") is far more successful than writer Isabel Coixet (who adapted the short story "Pretending the Bed is a Raft"), who has concocted a fantastical tale where too many characters are too good to be true. However Coixet makes some refreshingly unusual directorial choices and star Sarah Polley shines as the downtrodden young woman who radiates life while facing death.
Ann is established as a big-hearted blue collar worker with wonderful mothering skills (she engages her girls' imaginations with such fancies as pretending their bed is a raft) and a supportive relationship with her optimistic husband. Polley's narration tells us that Dan was Ann's first relationship, she had her first child at 17, second at 19 and that her dad's been in jail for ten years, not leaving her much time to think. Ann tries not to get dragged down by her mother's lamentations over broken dreams and lost hopes. Continuing in this spirit, when she receives her death sentence, Ann is determined to make her daughters feel loved and leave them a legacy, take a trip to the beach, spiff up her appearance, smoke and drink, say what she thinks, make love to another man, get someone to fall in love with her, visit her dad, give good advice to her mother and husband and find him a new wife. Except for that family outing, she accomplishes everything.
Coixet's script is a frustrating mix of the lyrical and absurd, emotionally true and sentimentally cliched. Ann's first attempt to fix her unsuspecting husband up, with her diet-obsessed coworker, Laurie (Amanda Plummer, "Ken Park"), gives the couple a believable chance to laugh over their evening ('She ate eight ribs!' 'She's a really nice person.'), but a new neighbor (Leonor Watling, "Talk to Her") willing to watch Ann's two young children turning out to be named Ann is a little too neat. Except for his earning ability, Dan is the perfect spouse which puts a lot of strain on our ability to engage in Ann's romance with Lee (Mark Ruffalo, "View from the Top"). Then, once we do, it is difficult not to find Ann's behavior unfair to the besotted young man.
Coixet makes some refreshingly unusual choices, though, that keep lifting her film above the typical woman's weepie. As Ann is kept waiting during her initial hospital visit, she frets about her girls being picked up at school. 'Do you know what it's like to be waiting at school with your nose freezing off?' she asks the nurse. 'Yes' is the reply as said nurse flashes back to her own experience. Ann wanders into the supermarket after an assignation with Lee and all its inhabitants begin to dance, expressing her emotions. Coixet also makes effective and restrained use of slo-mo, in addition to terrific musical selections. Cinematographer Jean Claude Larrieu achieves the chill of the Vancouver locations.
Coixet is incredibly perceptive in her casting as well. One cannot imagine anyone but Sarah Polley as the clear-eyed, determined Ann whose capacity for love continues to grow as her life span shortens. She's a natural mother and lover, a force that nudges people towards their optimal selves. She has great chemistry with both the immensely likeable Speedman and the dreamy romantic Ruffalo (who will break your heart at film's end). Watling has a great scene that is essentially her 'tryout' as Dan's wife, where she recounts nursing Siamese twins for their last thirty hours of life. Richings makes a big impression in scant screen time as Ann's doctor, who comes out of his shell as he helps Ann prepare for death. Maria de Madeiros ("Pulp Fiction") provides comic relief as a hairdresser fixated on Milli Vanilla braids. Harry is solid as a disappointed woman who nonetheless continues to take chances, but an uncredited Alfred Molina is saddled with an awkwardly written scene as Ann's dad.
"My Life Without Me" so easily could have been dreadful, but Coixet's imaginative handling of her somewhat problematic material and a terrific cast make it worthwhile.
B-
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