One of the year's sweetest surprises.
My Life Without Me (2003)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:100
Fresh:65
Rotten:35
Average Rating:6.3/10
Consensus: Sarah Polley keeps this production afloat with her moving performance.
Theatrical Release:Sep 26, 2003 Limited
Box Office: $200,852
Synopsis: Ann is 23, she has 2 daughters, a husband who spends more time unemployed than working, a mother who hates the world, a father who has spent the last ten years in jail, a strange predilection for... Ann is 23, she has 2 daughters, a husband who spends more time unemployed than working, a mother who hates the world, a father who has spent the last ten years in jail, a strange predilection for the audio-books of soap operas and a job as a night janitor in a university she could never go to in the dayime. They live in a trailer on the yard of her mother’s house, on the outskirts of Vancouver. However, this gray existence changes completely when, after a medical check-up, a shy doctor tells her that she has very little time left, hardly two months to live. Ann decides to keep her condition a secret, not to tell anybody, not even her husband. She doesn't want people around her with long faces mumbling the word "death." She starts to make a list of "things to do before dying" which she completes little by little. The list goes from "saying exactly what I think" to "getting fake fingernails." Unexpectedly, Ann discovers an appetite for life that drives her to live her last days with a sensual and furious intensity she had not known before. During that time she prepares her daughters life without her, meets a solitary wounded man who she seduces (and paradoxically brings back to life), and faces what remains of her life with a courage she never knew she had. -- © Sony Pictures Classics [More]
Starring: Sarah Polley, Mark Ruffalo, Scott Speedman, Leonor Watling
Starring: Sarah Polley, Mark Ruffalo, Scott Speedman, Leonor Watling, Deborah Harry, Amanda Plummer, Maria De Medeiros
Director: Isabel Coixet
Director: Isabel Coixet
Screenwriter: Isabel Coixet
Producer: Esther Garcia, Gordon McLennan
Studio: Sony Pictures Classics
Get This Movie
Reviews for My Life Without Me
My Life Without Me is a young person's movie about death, the sort of adolescent daydream in which you imagine your own demise.
Uses a loose cinema verite style to give the film a dreamy blanket of quiet, avoiding the 'disease of the week' movie formula.
A tear-jerker where the tears are cut by more than a dash of cynicism.
Sarah Polley, of course, with her funny teeth and serious gaze, is "My Life Without Me." She turns a potentially schlocky tear jerker into a compelling story.
The acting is good and the writing is as well, but one wishes that there’d be more happening.
Coixet's imaginative handling of her somewhat problematic material and a terrific cast make it worthwhile
Detached from her part and just going through the motions of the acting, Polley leaves it to a superb supporting cast to [attempt to] carry the film.
Polley wipes herself of all intelligence and beauty for the role, and almost all emotion; her lack of affect is both frustrating and somehow fitting.
Despite pat characters and a melodrama problem, My Life Without Me has a core that's strong.
Sarah Polley's performance is exquisite, with shades of complexity flickering across her face as she absorbs the information her doctor has given her: confusion, disbelief, then determination.
... one of the most unusual and thought-provoking stories of the fall season.
My Life Without Me is essentially the same old Hollywood eyewash about the noble mother suffering silently for the sake of her children, it's about as phony and manipulative as a movie could be.
It's a rich idea, but only partly realized in this quiet, intimately shot drama.
Excellent performances from Sarah Polley and Deborah Harry, and a sensitive script from writer-director Isabel Coixet transform what might otherwise have been little more than a disease-of -the-week cable melodrama.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| 68% 68% | Funny People |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 14% 14% | The Ugly Truth |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 86% 86% | A Christmas Tale |
| 60% 60% | Paper Heart |
RT On Current TV
DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
CloseSponsored Links
Around The Network
- My Life Without Me at Rotten Tomatoes
- My Life Without Me at IGN
- My Life Without Me at AskMen
Fresh Links
Featured

MSN Movies offers a little background on the success of Disney Animation.

TIME takes a look back at the history of vampires on film.

Techland examines the visual splendor of Peter Jackson's upcoming film.

AOL put together a list of 10 recent news items that would be perfect as TV Movies.
Promos

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!



Top Critic


