Never Let Me Go
NEVER LET ME GO
FOX
RELEASED 21 January 2011
Based on what Time Magazine called ‘the best novel of the decade’, this Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) directed tale of cloning in an alternative future comes packed with the two leading British actresses of the time, Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley, as well as the upcoming British actor, ‘Social Network’ star, and future Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield. Oh, and British legend Charlotte Rampling’s in it it too.
Students at Hailsham are different. They have no family. They don’t leave the school grounds. And they are aware that one day parts of their body will be used to help others, until they can no longer survive themselves. These are called donations and occur in their twenties. Taking place an unspecified time within the last fifty years, we follow childhood friends Cathy (Mulligan), Ruth (Knightley), and Tommy (Garfield) through love, jealousy, and heartache, and the knowledge that time is the most precious thing they have.
‘Never Let Me Go’ is an incredibly sad film. The characters are little more than cattle, fed, nutured, amused, until the authorities deem they are ready and needed for ‘real’ people. One of the main themes of the movie is whether a cloned person can have a soul, which the teachers at Hailsham are keen to discover. The film touches on many of life’s ‘big themes’, another of which is whatever time we do have, it’s what we do with it that matters.
My big problem with the film (and the novel) is that this sci-fi tale is simply inconceivable. How could cloned humans with no discernable rights ever happen in a civilised society? Put simply, you have to ignore this implausability, and much as I enjoyed the book (and the film moreso), neither achieves classic status in my eyes for this basic plot ‘cheat’.
‘Cheating’ aside, the film is a faultless affair, with all three leads in exceptional form, with probably Knightley giving her finest performance. Huge credit should also go to the young actors (Isobel Meikle-Small, Charlie Rowe, Ella Purnell) who play the characters before the marquee names take over, as not only do they look like their elder versions, they act just as well too. Much of the book’s early years are jettisonned, which I felt was a shame, especially as the film is fairly brisk. Romanek gives the film a fading polaroid feel, and screenwriter Alex Garland picks out the key speeches from the book.
‘Never Let Me Go’ is a moving, thought-provoking acheivement, a British film to be proud of.
FIVE OUT OF FIVE
