My Life Without Me

Filed under: Film — purplehsiaoling at 8:19 pm on Saturday, March 11, 2006 

I don’t think this movie was actually shown in the cinemas and it’s pretty obscure too since it’s an independent movie.  Anyway, what made me got the DVD and watch it was Sarah Polley acting in it.  I knew her years ago from Road to Avonlea (one of my favourite series ever!).  And as I watched her in My Life Without Me, I kept comparing her to the little girl I know in the series.  It is her.  =)

     Firstly, this is another movie with no happy endings.  Sigh!  I need to get one with a happy ending soon.  It’s pretty depressing watching tears and death.  Anyway, it figures.  The title did say "My Life Without Me" (Mi vida sin mi).  But the foolish part of me couldn’t stop hoping that the good ol’ doctor made a wrong diagnosis because Ann (Sarah Polley) didn’t get a second opinion.

     Just after she learnt that she only had a couple of months to live, she sat down in a cafe and wrote in her journal about the things she wanted to do before she died.  I should think that the most heartbreaking one was to find a new love for her husband, Don.  Scott Speedman was very likeable as Don.  And I simply melt when I see guys/men being good with kids.

     Imagine having to accept another woman to be part of your very own beloved husband and children’s life.  The end of the movie shows a scene in which Don, her daughters (Penny and Patsy) and the new Ann (her neighbour) going somewhere very much like a family.  They were laughing away and I wonder if the old Ann was still in their thoughts.

     My Life Without Me really raises a lot of things to ponder on, especially about making the best out of life- something that we often forget to do in the daily grind of our lives.  Telling our loved ones that we love them, doing the things that we have always wanted to do and most importantly, being happy with who we are and making those around us happy.

     Well, I am not going to rewrite the story.  The old Ann is not going to get a wrong diagnosis and live after all.  In the short span of time she had after the diagnosis and her eventual demise, she had done everything she set out to do.  She even fell in love without another man, Lee (Mark Ruffalo).  Hmm..  Is it possible to be in love with two men?  Perhaps there are a lot of Mr. Rights and Miss Rights out there and somehow, we only end up with one?

     Ann’s story also shows me how very important it is not to make wrong decisions and make a mess out of our lives.  Well, her life wasn’t really a mess.  She has a wonderful husband and two lovely kids.  But somehow, I guess she felt cheated because her life took a different turn from the one she had imagined and dreamed of all because of one kiss with her husband (the only man she had ever kissed and loved) that made her grow up in an instant.

     In that story, Ann was 23 going on 24 and she first became a mother at 17.  Being so young and missing out on so many things in life and then having to accept that she was going to die so soon..  I guess that’s what made her do things she wouldn’t have done.  Like falling in love with another man.  But you know what?  She did a lot of good to Lee.  He was this man who was lost after his divorce and she showed him the meaning and direction in his life again.

     Overall, this is a good movie and Sarah Polley was splendid as Ann.  Well, I like this movie too because there are no bad guys in it.  You kind of like everyone in it despite their shortcomings.  And I guess that’s life.  You will just have to accept the bad with the good.