Me Before You

Some random conversations I had with the movie Me Before You:

Friend: Oh-ehm-gee! I can't wait for Me Before You!
Me: What's that?
Friend: A movie based on a novel that I'm reading.
Me: Ohhh~ (pretends to sound interested) Who's the actor?
Friend: Sam Claflin (with dreamy eyes and a wide smile)
Me: Who?
Friend: The guy from Love Rosie.
Me: Oh! Finnick!
Friend: YES! (shows movie poster)
Me: Nice! He got paired with the same girl from Love Rosie! They look good together.
Friend: No, that's not Lily Collins.
Me: Of course that's her!
Friend: Nope
Me: How can that not be her!?!
Friend: That's Emilia Clarke.
Me: Who?
Friend: You know, from the Game of Thrones?
Me: Noooooe...! (disbelief) 
*watches trailer*
Me: Oh-ehm-gee! I can't wait for Me Before You!

The Daenerys Targaryen and Finnick Odair couple combo could practically burn other couples. They're a hot pair!

But what got me giggling at the end of the movie was a very out-of-the-blue conversation I had with my mother and her friend who we encountered right before heading to watch the movie.

Mom: We're watching Me...Because...Me and You─what do you call that?
Me: Me Before You
Mom: Yes, that one!
Mom's Friend: Is that sad? Because I cannot cry again, I've been crying too much already. (her husband passed away a year ago)
Mom: No, no, it's fine.
Me: It's a love story.
Mom's Friend: Oh really?
Mom: (begins to narrate the story out from scratch) It's about a paralyzed guy who took care of a girl─no no no─the girl took care of her, and then they fell in love, and got married and her mother-in-law really loved her─basta─it's really a beautiful story.
Me: Don't worry, it's a happy ending.
Mom: Yes, a happy ending!
Me: They ended up together.
Mom: Yes, they got married in the end.
Mom's Friend: I think I saw the trailer on TV─
Me: Yes, that's the one! (of course I had no idea what trailer she was talking about)
Mom: You should really watch it!
Mom's Friends: That's nice, but I don't watch movies in theaters, I'll wait for it on TV.

When the credits started rolling I heard sniffs from my parents, and while they were clearly teary eyed, they kept on repeating the statement, "I'm really sleepy." with matching yawns, the tears at the end of my tear duct couldn't drop because I remembered the conversation we had with her friend earlier and it could not get any wronger than that─it was just oh-so-very-wrongly told, the version we told her friend anyway. 

And prior to getting in the cinema, we arrived thirty minutes late! My mom confidently said, "That's alright, I practically know the story anyway." And no, she didn't read the novel at all─obviously─just based on her mention of the mother-in-law thing.

I'm so glad Emilia Clarke has a wig in Game of Thrones, it gives her so much
advantage on stripping off her character outside the series.

I remember writing a similar scene on a fanfic I was working on, and I get how
sensual it could get simply by shaving a man's beard.

But what can I say about the movie? I love the characters of the story, most of them anyway. What made it even better? It's the undeniable onscreen chemistry of Sam Claflin and Emilia Clarke. And it didn't matter that majority of their actions are limited to facial expressions, they did well with eyebrow contortions and real eye conversations. Their charms could easily draw you in.

And despite, unfortunately, we arrived 30-minutes late for the movie, thus decreasing my emotional investment in the character at the end of the movie, it was enough for me to feel something in the end. 

More than the love story, it's a story that directs its attention to life and making most of it. As what Sam Claflin said in one of his interviews, what he learned from the movie is appreciating life in the end, because most things are being taken for granted. While for some people, it's unimaginable to get to bed on their own, he could just easily jump in bed in a heartbeat─but that's not the case for some─and how lucky he is to be able to do that. 

To me, what I took out of this story is the differences of people. Some people are happy in their own little world, they are the people who have not seen the bigger world, those who have not stepped out of their comfort zones, and they're fine the way they are─but those who did have a chance to see what's out there could help broaden their view, and all it takes is the proper push to help them make the jump. As a millennial, this message speaks to me greatly, and I want nothing more than to chase a dream far bigger than what is being handed to me. I should step out a little further, and take myself a little farther because there's a really big world out there waiting, and it's mine to rule.