The Film Festival has been seeing a lot of stellar films passing through, both shorts and big screen blockbusters alike. And while the British-American romance Me Before You has been making its rounds since the beginning of the summer, that didn’t stop the showing this past week from being completely packed.

For those of you (like myself) who didn’t know much about this movie outside of the controversies (and YouTube spamming you with the trailer before every video you want to watch) here’s the synopsis.

Based on Jojo Moyes’ 2012 book of the same name, Me Before You is about a cynical quadriplegic ex-banker named Will Traynor (Sam Claflin) and his quirky, bubbly caretaker Louisa Clark (Emilia Clarke). Through Louisa’s efforts, Will’s rather bleak outlook on life is slowly changed as Louisa determinedly works to give Will a life worth living. And, as I’m sure you can already guess, these two manage to find a little love along the way. Imagine The Fault in Our Stars had a baby with a K-Drama and this movie is pretty much the result.

And that’s all I can really say without some sort of spoiler. So, if you don’t want to peek behind the curtain just yet, go watch the movie and come back here to hear some insight into the movie.

Now, before getting too deep into this story, let’s address the buzzing controversies.

The first major twist in Me Before You is that, after Louisa has begun to break down Will’s icy walls, she finds out that the young millionaire is planning an assisted suicide after six months. And while a necessary part of the story, the filmmakers knew from the very beginning that there would likely be backlash.

The topic of suicide is very serious and should not be romanticized in any way. It’s an epidemic that plagues our world today and likely most of you know at least one person who has taken their own life. Many of the films this past week, from The Sweet Life to Christine and even Drowning have featured the idea of suicide in some form.

At the Q&A following Me Before You, the director said that they were in no way trying to support assisted suicide, but rather, they were supporting that people ought to have a choice, whether or not that choice is the right one to make. The movie did this by showing the pain of Will living in a world that he no longer considers to be his own while recognizing the pain of his loved ones at his choice.

And while this has been criticized in the film, there has been arguably less controversy over this than the character of Will himself.

From the early stages of the film’s development, Me Before You was receiving criticisms for its paralyzed leading man being cold and cynical due to his disease. They also felt that Will was being portrayed in such a way to imply that the disabled were a burden on their family and are better off dead.

Now, I am not a person who struggles with a major disability and cannot speak for anyone who does. In my experience though, some of the happiest people in the world are those who live with such disabilities. Many of these people don’t like to say that they ‘struggle’ with their disabilities and are constantly proving that they can live life to the fullest despite their body’s condition. And that’s exactly what Louisa was trying to get Will to understand. Time and time again, she brought up opportunities, activities, things to show that he could still enjoy life like everyone else, even if he had to do it a little bit differently.

That being said, I don’t think that it’s fair to say that Will was meant to represent all those dealing with disability. To me, Will’s cynical nature had less to do with his injury and more to do with the fact that he was a bit of a spoiled *sshole.

Sam Claflin, the actor who played Will, spent a lot of time doing research and interacting with quadriplegics to better understand the body that his character lived in. If you watch any interview with Claflin, you’ll see that he’s very expressive with his body. He’s almost always moving his hands or his head in order to articulate and punctuate exactly what he means. Since Will was a quadriplegic paralyzed from the neck down, this meant that he could only use the muscles in his face to portray his character. He even made a personal choice to lose weight to match the low mass of someone unable to utilize their muscles.

My point is, they did their research, and I feel as though Will is a character and an individual who has his own struggle. It’s easy to say that this is a story about someone who is disabled but, honestly, if you say that, you might as well say The Fault in Our Stars is about cancer. These people are not what ails them.

So, if you allow me, I’d like to re tell you what this movie is about.

There is a man. A man who once had everything and now, all the joy he ever had in life is gone. He is unable to fit the memory of the life he once had into the life he has now. Though surrounded by people

who love him dearly, he can’t live for them. He can only live for himself and he is discontent to do so.

This is a real story. Maybe it’s someone who lost their job. Maybe it’s someone being bullied or battling through depression. Maybe they lost someone of their own. Sometimes people hit hard times and they bounce back. Sometimes they don’t. Will is an example of one of those times.

Haven’t you ever wondered about this title? Why a romance movie would have such a self-serving name as Me Before You rather than You Before Me? It’s because Will was thinking of himself, allowing himself to be selfish. He knew that people would be hurt by his actions, heartbroken even. But at the end of the day, he considered himself first. ‘Me first’ he was saying ‘It’s me who has to live in this way. Me who feels helpless and doesn’t want this to be my life. It’s my choice. Before your feelings, comes me.”

Note: Suicidal thoughts affect people more often than you might think. If you or someone you know is considering taking their life, know that you don’t have to deal with this pain alone. The suicide hotline is open 24/7 worldwide and are there to help. These people are there for confidential support for those in distress, especially those who are too afraid to talk with anyone else about it.