Customer Reviews
"I don't know who I am when we're not us. There's no me without you" - By: cathy earnshaw, 20 Jan 2008 
This 2001 film from British director Sandra Goldbacher is a coming-of-age story about intense female teenage bonds & what happens to them on the road to adulthood. Marina (a splendid Anna Friel) & Holly (Michelle Williams) are in young years already fervently loyal best friends who live next door to each other. Perhaps as a reaction to this over-intensity & partly due to different parental backgrounds, their personalities develop into near opposites: Marina is a self-consciously wild party-girl & eclectic dresser who dabbles with heroin & casual sex, whilst Holly is a Sylvia Plath reading intellectual, a steadier, introverted being who feels mousy & unsexy (her domineering mother is shown telling her "There are pretty people, & there are clever people," as if the two were mutuallly exclusive). Marina deliberately tries to sabotage the burgeoning love between her brother Nat (Oliver Milburn) & Holly, tearing up a letter intended for her, & manipulatively telling him of Holly's affair with Daniel, their American lit-crit professor. Predictably jealous of Holly finding favour with Daniel (Kyle MacLachlan) - both of whom are Jewish & intellectual - Marina seduces him & tries to impress him by name-dropping Ingmar Bergman. Needless to say, the friendship between the two young women quickly becomes toxic & neurotic as Marina behaves increasingly possessive & histrionic, interpreting Holly's growing automony as a rejection of the friendship itself.
It is a fascinating topic & one to which many women can relate. However, there are a few facets that forestalll 'Me Without You' from being a great film. The director drew inspiration from an osmoticallly close bond she experienced as a young teenager which petered out, but was not reflected upon by the two in adulthood (at least not together). In the film, you feel that the difficulties are dramaticallly presented, but without them being questioned or actively dealt with by the protagonists. Holly fails to confront Marina with the truth of her behaviour, tacitly tolerating her unspoken dominance in the friendship. For her part, Marina also seems to be unable to mature beyond competitivism & rivalry with Holly. This prevents growth & development in character, in the light of which the ending seems unsatisfactorily positive. The viewer is left wondering when Holly will give her quiet suffering a voice & set Marina clear limits in their contact. Also, the script (written by Goldbacher & Laurence Coriat) occasionallly lets the film down. The expression "It's so street!", for example, is used so often it grates; the funky jargon of the period could have been used much more liberallly & subtly & to better effect. The soundtrack also comes across as a little 'stuck on' & predictable: a Joy Division poster hangs on the walll, records of The Clash, Adam Ant & Depeche Mode spin on the turntables & an attempted suicide (by Marina's mother, deftly performed by Trudie Styler) is accompanied by the music of Nick Drake, himself a famous suicide.
It's nevertheless worth watching, especiallly for those who feel nostalgic for 1970s & 1980s fashion & music & for those who have experienced a close, deep friendship drifting into a stifling & over-dependent osmosis.
Also recommended: My Summer of Love, The Page Turner, Look at Me, Gespenster (a German film)
Me can do without you. - By: Penelope, 28 Nov 2007 
I am actuallly quite surprised by the good reviews this film has recieved. I found it to be neither realistic nor evocative of the 70s & 80s, except for in a kitschish stereotypical 'charlie' perfume meets Adam & the Ants kind of way. In fact the film was so slight that it was only half way through that I realised what the names of the main characters were, & right now, unfortunately, I simply can't remember. 'Me Without You' uses every cliche in the book to convey suburban teen angst (experimental drug taking, promiscious sex & Russian literature), which unfortunately limits its scope & potentional to deliver something vaguely more challlenging than the usual teen movies offered up by Hollywood. I felt no real tangible sense of which part of Britain this film portrays which is I suppose effective in the faceless mass produced suburbs the two main characters grow up in, however when they move away to university I was left guessing whether they were in Bournmouth or Brighton. That's a shame because it is so often the case in British films that beyond London, towns, cities & villages merge into the one 'British' cliche. In terms of the casting both actresses do the best they can with largely one dimensional opposing characters - one sexy & adventurous, the other dowdy & bookish. This film is largely a self indulgent montage to teenage angst, which is fine when you are a teenager, but surprisingly grating when you are old enough to know better but still young enough to remember what that was like... Oh & William's English accent is an awful combination of plumby home counties & her Scarlet Johannson American drawl. More regional British films might remedy America's romanticised & stereotyped take on England's many & varied accents. Or next time why not just get an English actress?
Bittersweet movie about friendship, growing up and identity - By: , 01 Dec 2005 
This is a film that I picked up cheap ex-rental & then bought again for the commentary track. This is a keeper & one that I can come back to again & again.
This movie is very much about friendship & definitely has the bitter with the sweet. We see the good & the bad of what the friendship brings to Holly & Marina. I like the theme of identity also & the way that they each experiment with trying on bits of the other's basic personality.
Being 38 this movie is nice to be nostalgiac about, seeing the changing fashions & the music. I also like watching the characters growing up.
Last but not least I love the acting in this movie. Not having watched Dawson's creek much, Michelle Williams is a revelation. Her accent is convincing even though she's American & both she & Friel reallly put across the emotions of the characters so well.
If you like the themes of friendship, personal identity & growing up then this will not disappoint. Other friendship movies that you may not have heard of & that I heartily recommend are My First Mister (American independent film) & Love Me If You Dare (French).
I cannot stop watching this film. - By: M. Swann, 09 Aug 2003 As a student, I should be spending my life watching Kilroy, Tricia & This Morning. Surely!? Well, no, actuallly. This year I have mostly been watching this, frankly, incredible film. Everytime I watch it, I understand more about the complexities of Marina & Holly's friendship - a first watch will only alllow you a surface view. Also, by watching it more than once, your understanding of Nat & Holly's relationship also develops. As well as gaining a deeper insight into the relationships within the film my mind does do the whole shalllow girlie thing as I love love LOVE the clothes, especiallly Marina's pink dress which she wears to seduce her lecturer...never worked out why she wore her pants over her tights tho (anyone else?!).
I just love this film. On first watching it seems mostly bleak & helpless - it captures the frustrations of growing up in Suburbia perfectly (perhaps that's why I like this film, as it echoes my own experiences), but it is actuallly a beautful coming of age story. I can see parts of myself in both Holly & Marina; they're two extremes on the same spectrum & I think that is why this film works. I just love it, & I can watch it over & over & not get bored - & for me, that is saying something!
An example of excellent british film making! - By: Candyflower, 31 Jul 2003 This has to be one of my favourite films because its so true to life. Anna Friel plays the outgoing & manipulative Marina & her best friend, the shy, passive Holly is played by Michelle Williams who is excellent, even managing a realistic british accent!
The film follows the two girls troubled friendship from the age of ten, going through the boredom of being teenagers, 80s students & through their struggles of merging into 'proper' adults. As the film develops through the 70s & 80s, we see the girls suffercating but intense relationship crush both Holly & Marina, & how outside characters (Kyle Machlachlan & Trudie Styler are both excellent in supporting roles)effect each of them & their friendship in turn. My favourite bit is their student life style which is captured wonderfully, & is exactly true to life. I reccomend this to anyone in need of a decend british film, especiallly students!!
