Never Let Me Go Review

Breathtakingly beautiful yet pervasively sinister, Never Let Me Go is pure science Fiction entwined beautifully with a tale of love, loss and morality; it should not be missed.

I wasn’t expecting much from this, I have to say. From the trailers there seemed little here but a love triangle with a mere hint of science fiction backdrop. Well it certainly is that, but it is also much, much more. Based upon Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2005 novel of the same name, Never Let Me Go is set in a alternative almost utopian future in which disease has been almost eradicated and human life has been extended well beyond a hundred years. To this backdrop, the plot follows the plight of three young people, Kathy ‘H’, played by Carey Mulligan (and by an eerily similar Isobel Meikle-Small as the young Kathy), Ruth, played by Keira Knightley (and by Ella Purnell as the younger version) and finally Tommy, played by Andrew Garfield (and Charlie Rowe), through three distinct periods of their lives.

We first meet Kathy in her 20’s, witnessing an Organ transplant, and it is obvious, as was hinted in the trailer, that all is not right. We are quickly whisked back to the late 1970’s, where we see a young Kathy, along with Ruth and Tommy, attending a strange English boarding school called Hailsham, in the pretty English Countryside. Again, the film builds upon these uneasy tensions and subtly lays down the foundation that something much more sinister is at play. Why are the children not allowed to leave the confines of the school and why must they keep in such good health? (etc) Such questions are answered rather quicker than I anticipated, though the outcome can quite easily be guessed before hand. In the end though this film is not focused around this twist, but rather explaining the impact upon this said twist upon the three lives of Ruth, Tommy and of course Kathy. To ruin this twist then does not at all hamper the enjoyment of the film but I'll attempt not to too. Let's just say that they have an impending purpose which will greatly effect their lives.

At its centre, this is a film about Kathy’s love for Tommy, which is heavy thwarted by his relationship with Ruth, which begins during their time in Hailsham. The portrayal of these earlier parts are obviously hampered in some way by the acting of the child actors, not to say that they act poorly, but they pail in comparison to their older replacements. We quickly move on from Hailsham, jumping forward a number of years to ‘the Cottages’, where the trio are now living. Here we get to understand a little more about the world that they inhabit as well as the development between characters. This great leap may seem a little bit jarring, but I thought it was done well, aided by the inner narration of Kathy. It is always difficult to project such long periods of time in such a short period of film time. It is in the Cottages where we really see Kathy, Ruth and Tommy come to life, and all three of the co-stars act brilliantly here, and through them we understand just how isolated and cut off they are from the real world.

The relationships between them also come into its own, and the tensions between Kathy and Ruth are clearly brilliantly portrayed by Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley, with Andrew Garfield sitting unwittingly in the centre. He too is great, seemingly torn between the two women’s affections, though he does so with an air of innocence that greatly aids the persona of them as children, even in adulthood (which is thoroughly and enjoyably portrayed in their forays into the outside world).

From here we jump forward again, where the friends have gone their separate ways, but unite before what is sinisterly referred to as ‘completion.’ Here we see the most sinister aspects of the film come to fruition, with some of the simplest scenes portraying intense immoral unease. It so effectively portrays this in so little an action and through the tiniest of nuances, with the operating scene being the most obviously powerful. What this film does so effectively is portray a world different from our own, but still scarily plausible, which is does so without the smallest of drama. To coincide with the subtle nature of the film, the camera work, as well as the musical score is equally as subtle, yet incredibly beautiful (most notably the picturesque scene upon the beach nearing the end of the film, which I thought was simply breathtaking).

What the film is also massively effective in what it doesn’t contain. Despite the obvious imperfections of the world that they inhabit, there is no attempt, nor even any notion, of fighting against or running from their impending fate; it is accepted as the way that the world works, which adds even more power to the battle of moralities here. In the end that is what this film is all about, at least in my mind. It is about love and loss, but it is also about the issues of right and wrong, with science and medicine advancing as they are, the situation within Never Let Me Go seems ever more plausible. At least for me, this film pushes forward a number of questions about the morality, albeit in a vastly exaggerated setting, of genetic research and of damning some for the greater good of others, and clearly pushing the viewer to ask themselves, how far is too far?

Attempting not to get too preachy though, even without this loftier message, the relationships between the characters, especially between Kathy and Tommy during the final stage of the film, is moving and incredibly powerful, and the ending though subdued, is equally as powerful and fits perfectly with the subtleties of the film.

In the end then, sure there isn’t really any intense action or excitement to speak off, but that is not what this film is all about, and any such things would have easily ruined the atmosphere that the film had so painstakingly but wonderfully created. For me, I don’t think I can imagine anyone who wouldn’t enjoy, at least on some level, this beautiful piece of cinema.