My Life Without Me (2003)

Director:

Isabel Coixet

Writers:

Isabel Coixet (writer)
Nanci Kincaid (book)

Release Date:

7 March 2003 (Spain)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance

Plot:

A young woman conceals the fact of her terminal cancer to live her life with a passion she never had before.

Plot Keywords:

Cancer | Doctor | Death | Birthday | Neighbor

Awards:

16 wins & 15 nominations

Cast

Sarah Polley	...	Ann
Amanda Plummer	...	Laurie
Scott Speedman	...	Don
Leonor Watling	...	Ann, the Neighbor
Deborah Harry	...	Ann's Mother
Maria de Medeiros	...	The Hairdresser
Mark Ruffalo	...	Lee
Julian Richings	...	Dr. Thompson
Kenya Jo Kennedy	...	Patsy
Jessica Amlee	...	Penny
Esther García
Camille Martinez		(as Camille Martínez)
María Cami
Deanne Henry	...	Waitress
Gillian Barber	...	Nurse #1

Also Known As:

Ma vie sans moi (Canada: French title)
Mi vida sin mí (Spain)

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

106 min | Argentina:107 min

Country:

Spain | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Hong Kong:IIA | Portugal:M/12 | Iceland:L | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | South Korea:15 | USA:R | Germany:6 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Chile:14 | Norway:A | UK:15

Filming Locations:

New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

El Deseo S.A.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Ann is talking about the conjoined twins, she says one was a girl and the other was a boy. Conjoined twins are formed from the same egg, so they are always the same gender.

Quotes:

Ann: [about the things in the mall] It's just there to try and keep us away from death, and it doesn't work.

Movie Connections:

Features Mildred Pierce (1945)

Soundtrack:

God Only Knows

a weepie par excellence

Really, this film should be too much to bear. An attractive young mother discovers she has 2 months to live and sets about trying to make use of her time doing things for herself and the people she loves; but keeping her diagnosis to herself. The film intentionally concentrates on the start of this period, allowing it to soft-focus the pain, and from a certain perspective, everything works out with an almost synthetic convenience. And yet this is a great film. All the performances are spot on (even Debbie Harry is great against type), and it's full of humour, not black death-defying humour but the life-affirming humour of everyday life. Additionally, the film is wonderfully constructed, both in the skill with which it moves between scenes and also in the larger way the story in told (the entire plot is structured around an eventual suicide that is only implied) - cloyingness is averted through the confidence the director has in the tale and the cast. Death is surely never this romantic, but in its own way this film is as harrying as Mike Nicholls' 'Wit'. A painful film, but one that makes you glad to be alive.