On the couch

There are few enough films you can describe as heartbreaking and mean it to be a compliment.
Most of the time it’s a word reserved for films that have been long anticipated and turn out to be steaming piles of vat-aged animal effulent.
Star Wars: Episode I for example. Heartbreaking, but not in the same way as Never Let Me Go. Not by a long straw.
Based on the awards-nominated novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro and adapted by Alex Garland, it is a languid, thoughtful science fiction film that is heavy on character and plot and light on the usual aliens, explosions and laserplay that characterises a sci-fi flick.
Instead the science fiction aspect runs as a subtle and often forgettable aspect of the story that only occasionally rears its head, shocking you into remembering that while life in Never Let Me Go may look like our world, it really, really isn’t.
The central conceit is that at some point in the recent past, the process of human cloning was mastered and has allowed life spans to be extended far beyond what was traditionally thought normal through the institutionalised growing of clones for genetically perfect spare parts.
Lose a hand? don’t fret; liver packed in? not a problem; lungs on the fritz? breath a sigh of relief, your doppleganger is on hand to provide the necessary.
What could turn out to be a Michael Bay movie (and kind of was – see The Island), instead has more of a Mike Leigh feel –
albeit slightly less gritty – telling its story through the lives of three children growing up in a boarding school of sorts in a pleasant part of East Sussex where their lives, and loves, are strictly monitored and controlled.
Carey Mulligan (Kathy H, the distant narrator), Keira Knightly (Ruth, the wild, slightly broken one) and Andrew Garfield (Tommy, the bobble-headed quiet weirdo) grow up together, learn of the purpose of their existance together and share gossip about possible ways their lives as “donors” can be extended as well engaging in a quiet but engrossing love triangle.
The three make their way through their lives, coping with their place in the world with almost cartoonish British stiff upper lips. Occasionally there are hints that not all the donors are quite so accepting of their fate but, as with everything else in the film, it is an idea that is underplayed exquisitely. If a Michael Bay movie is happening somewhere, it is far from the shores of Never Let Me Go.
As much a love story as a tragedy, the fate of the donors and the manner in which they accept their abbreviated lives and purpose is at times tear-jerking and others horrific. 
Understated to the hilt, all three leads play their parts excellently, Mulligan and Knightly in particular, and the control and dignity with which the film is shot and story told stops the sci-fi spine of the film from ever being jarring or distracting to the very human drama that is being played out.
Not a film to watch either on your own or when you’re in a mood, Never Let Me Go will, much like The Road, leave you needing a hug at the end. Despite it’s emotional rigours though, it is an excellent flick and worth every minute.