Without You

I watched this as a 2 part DVD. Hopefully it's the same thing as the 3 parter. I'm quite fond Anna Friel, and was interested in seeing what this is about. It's a 140 minute mini-series which is probably better as a 100 minute movie.

The biggest problem school teacher Ellie (Anna Friel) has is getting pregnant. However when she's told that her husband is killed in a car crash with some strange woman, she has to re-evaluate her life. Only the more she digs into the incident, the more she refuses to believe that her husband was having an affair.

This is not that original. The general route of the story was obviously telegraphed from the start. It was never in much doubt that the story would unfold in that way. It may be the power of Anna Friel that her character was never challenged competently. Either that or the writing never allow the other characters to sound reasonable as they keep opposing her. This movie needs to struggle more with her investigation. And the movie is just too long. It's unnecessary for such a simple plot.

An entire cast of utterly unlikable characters! One character after another is introduced . . . And each one worse than the last. That's almost three hours of my life gone that I'll never get back . . . Don't make the same mistake!!!

I was drawn to this by the two leads. Friel from my days of watching Brookside and Warren from Hustle. Both accomplished actors' who have been a pleasure to watch in whatever their roles' may be.

Something went drastically wrong with this melodrama, in fact let's call it seriously exaggerated melodrama.

Their solid performances still stood out in a sea of mediocre acting. I'm not sure what else the other players in this have done previously but the poor writing did nothing to save this.

Logic was left behind at an early stage of proceedings and from that point, I just felt like I had to watch just to see who the culprit was, although I had my suspicions early on and was proved right.

Nothing against Friel and Warren who still did a good job at rescuing the script, but the flaws were evident moreso in Friel's scenes with others less capable. Her nuanced subtlety had nothing to play off with some of the other actors in this misguided drama/thriller.

Thoroughly taut well acted psychological crime story! If something doesn't seem right- it probably isn't! Those around you may try to shield you from yourself! Your close friends and workmates will make you give it up! But you believe in yourself and you will not give up because that would surely destroy you! So onward against the odds! Keeping your wits to gather those threads of truth until you can weave the why and wherefore of all that took place and explains the gaps, the doubts, the illogic of preconceived opinions! Love is your manna! Retribution is your muscle! You will succeed and retribution will subside leaving only love!

I just wanna shake them all. This is actually on PBS with the original title from the novel, "What to Do When Someone Dies". I found the premise interesting, but Ellie's logic sometimes failed me. What bothered me the most was all her bullying friends! They were yelling at her to get over it, stop what she's doing, do this do that. God, I'd throw them all out of my house and not be friends any longer! It's like many other shows where you logically know what should be done, but logic needs to be suspended so the drama can flow. But really, she comes across as so very weak. It's annoying. And dang, they drink a LOT.