Sightlines · how to watch
How to watch Me Before You
2016 · Thea Sharrock · Me Before You on Sightlines
5 things to watch and listen for on a first viewing, without spoilers, and 3 more once you have seen it. Each names something you can see or hear, the pattern it belongs to, and what noticing it gives you. How these keys work.
On a first viewing
Watch the camera hold Lou and Will at one eye level. (camera)
Adefarasin runs the shot/reverse-shot along a single level, so the seated Will and standing Lou stay in balanced two-shots.
Payoff: That eyeline choice keeps the two leads visually equal despite the wheelchair between them.
Notice the honeyed, autumnal light on every English exterior. (light)
Adefarasin holds the same warm, postcard-clean palette across the castle, the countryside, and both families' homes.
Payoff: The warmth is doing emotional work, making the world feel inviting before anyone says a word.
Notice Lou's bright, mismatched clothes against the Traynor family's muted rooms. (staging)
Lou's tights, patterns, and statement shoes recur scene after scene, always clashing with the cool, moneyed Traynor interiors.
Payoff: Costume carries the class difference the dialogue never states outright.
Listen for the pop song that swells under each milestone scene. (sound)
A contemporary needle-drop compilation, Ed Sheeran and X Ambassadors among them, arrives at every emotional turn, with Craig Armstrong's orchestra filling the gaps between songs.
Payoff: Music, not dialogue, is doing most of the film's emotional work.
Track how long Will's face stays still after Lou's outings. (performance)
Claflin lets bitterness, wit, and tenderness register on his face and voice, then holds there instead of turning into action.
Payoff: That held look is what the reading calls feeling that has arrived but has nowhere to discharge. In the reading: affection-image. Will's stopped face is the affection-image: emotion registered, not yet turned into a deed.
The 3 rewatch keys open on this page when you choose "Seen it?".
Carry this in: Watch how the camera keeps Lou and Will at one eye level, scene after scene.