Never Let Me Go (2010)

Mainstream American moviegoers looking for escapist, feel-good fare can avoid or ignore Never Let Me Go. Those curious about a triangular romance featuring rising young actors may likewise be disappointed by the movie’s downbeat tone. It is a profoundly sad film, not quite as bleak as the recent post-apocalyptic tale The Road, but heartbreaking nonetheless. However, those who are willing to experience such an emotional journey may appreciate Never Let Me Go as an intriguing gem that’s a little rough around the edges from the British soil where it originated, yet subtly designed and altogether fascinating.

The story is not really science fiction but speculative fiction, specifically a tale of alternate history such as, for example, the Robert Harris novel Fatherland, which depicts what America might have been like had Nazi Germany won World War II. Never Let Me Go sets up its alternate history immediately by informing the audience that medical breakthroughs in the 1950s led to 100-year life expectancies by the end of the 1960s. From these established facts we are brought to 1978 and Hailsham House, a school in the English countryside.

Within the fence and behind the masonry and dark wood paneling of the manor, Miss Emily (Charlotte Rampling) and her faculty of guardians supervise every detail of the lives of their gray-clad young students. The children’s diets are watched, their artwork observed; cigarettes are expressly forbidden, as is venturing beyond the fence and gate of the school. They are almost completely sheltered from the outside world, to the extent that some don’t even know how to behave in a role-playing scenario of ordering tea in a café. And apart from a brief yet telling glimpse of an anatomy lesson, there seems to be very little actual teaching or studying of the usual school subjects going on.

The story centers on three specific children at Hailsham: the compassionate yet shy Kathy; her jealous friend, Ruth; and the cute but socially awkward boy who comes between them, Tommy. Kathy becomes the third wheel in the relationship between Ruth and Tommy, and the hurt feelings and jealousy become more intense when, at the age of 18, the threesome (now played by Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and Andrew Garfield) leave Hailsham and are sent together to “The Cottages” to adjust to the outside world while awaiting their impending “donations.”

I don’t want to explain too much about these mysterious donations or the other curiosities regarding Hailsham and its world; the astute viewer will assemble the pieces of this dystopian picture without needing everything spelled out. In fact, when a new Hailsham guardian (Sally Hawkins) spills the beans to the students about their real purpose, it’s disturbing but not surprising. By revealing it relatively early in the film, it strips the mystery away and leaves the audience to focus on how this knowledge affects these three sad souls throughout the remainder of their lives.

Never Let Me Go is a confluence of remarkable literary and cinematic pedigrees. The original novel is by acclaimed author Kazuo Ishiguro, who also wrote The Remains of the Day, a brilliantly subtle book that became a movie masterpiece featuring Anthony Hopkins’ (arguably) finest performance. Both stories focus on central characters who are products of their culture, but restricted from full participation in them. They are both beautifully sad tales of lost love, with an almost elegiac reflection of an England that once was and will never be again.

With Never Let Me Go, Ishiguro also adds the intriguing element of a structured, controlled society that is not spelled out in plain English, but implied in the margins. This subtlety is masterfully handled by director Mark Romanek; if you’ve seen his previous film, the creepy Robin Williams thriller One Hour Photo, you know his prowess for design and performance. The children of Hailsham are dressed primarily in gray, while glimpses of the outside world seem more colorful. In the latter stages of the film, the actors seem to be more colorful as the scenery and backgrounds become increasingly more drab. Such shifts in the look of the film subtly provoke thoughts about what kind of society would find it acceptable to allow such totalitarian methods. Romanek cleverly illustrates this in microcosm with a couple of hospital operation scenes that are shocking not by blood or guts, but by brute callousness.

Anchoring the film are three sharp performances by the lead actors. Keira Knightley does great work balancing Ruth’s sexual superiority with her underlying emotional frailty. Andrew Garfield seems almost goofy at first, but his acting grows stronger until he absolutely nails his last scenes, with an emotional climax that won’t leave a dry eye in the house. And Carey Mulligan, dear sweet beautiful Carey Mulligan…I’m completely smitten by her. She was stunning and assured in An Education, and she does it again here. So cute she’s gorgeous, Mulligan’s eyes and lips can communicate more than most actresses can with their entire body. It’s a happy privilege to watch her work.

Never Let Me Go may not be perfect or to everyone’s taste–it may be a little too subtle or oblique in places, and I would have liked just a tad more exploration of this alternate British society–but it’s smartly crafted and will generate discussion among viewers. It joins a distinguished list of dystopian fiction and film, including 1984, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Children of Men. Now I really want to read the book.