Synopsis
A fatally ill mother with only two months to live creates a list of things she wants to do before she dies without telling her family of her illness.
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Cast
- Sarah PolleyAnn
- Amanda PlummerLaurie
- Scott SpeedmanDon
- Mark RuffaloLee
- Leonor WatlingNeighbor Ann
- Debbie HarryAnn's Mother
- Maria de MedeirosHairdresser
- Julian RichingsDr. Thompson
- Jessica AmleePenny
- Kenya Jo KennedyPatsy
Recommendations
- 70
The Hollywood Reporter
Successfully surmounts nearly all the challenges of making a film about a young person dying. Which means the writer-director avoids pitfalls. It is not cloying or sentimental or falsely optimistic. It avoids bathos and exaggerated emotions. Instead, the film affirms life in surprising and gratifying ways. - 70
L.A. Weekly
My Life Without Me was produced by the studio of Pedro Almodóvar, and one sees the Spanish director's influence in the way Polley edges her Madonna with a touch of the reckless sensualist. - 70
Variety
With a glowing performance by Sarah Polley as the doomed woman, this Spanish-Canadian co-prod, filmed in English, is surprisingly adept at avoiding the worst cliches and most manipulative elements inherent in such a story. - 70
Los Angeles Times
A splendid cast, coupled with Isabel Coixet's deeply committed writing and direction, goes a long way to make this movie affecting to watch even it if doesn't hold up well to reflection once the lights go up. - 67
Entertainment Weekly
This hankie-yanker is an emotional cheat. - 50
The A.V. Club
Asks for sympathy for deplorable behavior. - 50
Village Voice
What's annoying and eventually absurd is writer-director Isabel Coixet's decision to have her heroine keep the diagnosis a secret. - 40
New York Magazine (Vulture)
A weepie for audiences under the (mistaken) impression that independent movies are always more emotionally honest than Hollywood movies.
