Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go is a huge step forward for director Mark Romanek. A visual genius, Romanek lacked a deep, compelling story with his debut, One Hour Photo. But eight years later he puts his visual expertise to more substantive fare with a densely layered story “about the hopes of the hopeless that make the world’s heart beat one minute longer.” This is not a science fiction film nor is it strictly a drama. It’s a moody chamber piece; a Bergmanesque melodrama set in an alternate existence. Characters know their place and accept their roles, but their humanity leaves them tormented nonetheless. Never Let Me Go points direct sunlight into the human condition and does so with unvarnished compassion at the struggle we all face – what is it to live? What is it to achieve?

I love how the usual contrivances are left out and even ignored in this film; silly irrelevances that would make it a mere “science fiction” film. The shallow questions that do nothing but divert attention away from what the story is really about – “What are the rules?”, “Why don’t they try to escape?”, “How did this happen?”, “Who’s in charge?”, “What does everyone else think?”. We can gather that people have tried to escape, people have tried to figure out the truth, but this is all inconsequential to this story. This is a specific piece about these three characters. In fact, it’s really a story about one character and the two people around her. And I love that! I love how it doesn’t fall into silly clichés – it defies our expectations over what a film like this should be. The characters are so sharply drawn and the triangle between them so expertly crafted. We know that Kathy and Tommy have a connection. We know they are meant to be together. We feel it. We don’t need to see the explosives. We don’t need to hear the dialogue of the two girls battling for his affection. By the time we get to that scene at the beach, when Ruth apologizes for effectively coming between them, she’s just reiterating what we’ve always known. She doesn’t even NEED to explain her intentions (even though she does) because they’re obvious. Of course she was jealous! Of course she was afraid of being alone! The beauty is the acceptance of the truth, the acceptance of the situation. There is no need to fight it because there is nothing to fight.

Never Let Me Go knows what the audience is thinking but refuses to succumb to their expectations. It assumes we know the ethical dilemmas presented in the world that the film has created but it leaves it at that. Instead, it focuses on the characters, these three people. Everything that is outside of themselves is left out. This is why I equate it to a chamber piece. There are no court room arguments; there are no discussions about morality. No, we get that. We’ve seen that before. This is a film about these three people who live in the world that has been created. It’s about what it means to them. Never is this more explicit than the scene with the boat on the beach. Tommy is like a kid again, running up to the boat and playing on it like this was his oasis, his paradise. This amplified jubilation symbolizes everything in his life and it is very deliberate on Romanek's part to keep the women at bay. The two women stay in the dunes while he has this time of emotional catharsis. Why? Because he needs it. Because he is the captain of his own ship and even if it has run aground, even if it will sink, it is his own. Later in this scene, Ruth gives him a chance to live again and yes, there is tragedy in their inevitable fate but for this moment, Tommy and Kathy are given a chance.

There is a scene at the end of Never Let Me Go that perfectly encapsulates everything that is brilliant about this film. Tommy (Andrew Garfield) and Kathy (Carey Mulligan) have found the woman who will give them a deferral. Rumor has it that if two people are in love they can put off becoming a donor, effectively extending their life. It’s a two shot of Garfield and Mulligan sitting on a couch, talking to this woman – Mulligan, the calm “caretaker” is sitting back while Garfield, the innocent, more emotional one is leaning forward, pleading their case. The shot, though a two shot, is on a long lens thereby crushing the depth of field. This is not done by chance and definitely not simply an aesthetic choice – no, because the focus is so shallow and the characters are on different focal planes, one of them has to be soft. Both of the actors, given their seat positions, cannot both be in focus.

Why is this important? What does the subtlety of focus have to do with the story being told? Because it forces us to see who is important here. In the hands of a lesser director, both actors would be in focus or they’d cut to a single to highlight one character. But Romanek does something better. He gives us both actors but only one is sharply in focus. And the decision to put Garfield in focus says as much about the importance of his character as it does about Mulligan’s character, who sits back “in the shadows.” When the news is given, when the revelation is provided, Tommy is bewildered. It’s like he can’t comprehend what is being told to him because in effect, hope is being taken from him. This is his moment of realization at what his life is meant for – and ONLY meant for. It’s like learning what the meaning of life is and not liking it.

For Kathy, this is not an a-ha! moment. And in fact, though she is not the focus, make no mistake, this is HER scene. She is our protagonist and her reaction says everything about her character. This scene confirms what she’s always felt. She comes here with hope, which was given to her by Ruth (Keira Knightley), but it’s a hope that she suspects is false. It’s a hope that she pursues because it’s the first time she’s ever felt possibility. This is her arc. This is her journey and giving herself this moment, even if it becomes a disappointment, is what the film is about. It’s about the hopeless finding hope in the impossible. And by keeping her slightly out of focus, she is in essence giving the moment to him. This says everything about her character, which is consistent throughout the whole film – that she is a caretaker. That she is the selfless one. She is the only one out of the three that is who she is meant to be. She is the only one who accepts the life she has been given. Ruth fights it; she tries to cheat it by not being alone but by the end is remorseful. Tommy fights it out of frustration and emotional helplessness and that’s why this scene becomes his moment of truth. But for Kathy, she is our restrained, solid rock. She is our eyes and ears. And in the end, though she suffers the same fate, she overcomes where the other two failed. There is a sense of hope that she is left with. There is a sense that in spite of it all, she was able to see the forest from the trees and appreciate what she had been given, instead of consumed by what has been taken away.