5/10
British cinema has a habit of producing stately films that are like stately homes - large, echoing, glacial, beautifully put together and lacking in soul and passion. Remains of the Day was such a film, and Never Let Me Go (not coincidentally by the same author, Kazuo Ishiguro) is another.
The year is 1978, but not the 1978 that you and I remember (well, those over 32 anyway). In this 1978, important medical advances have been made, which require special schools where children are raised away from society, and taught to be obedient, hard working and unselfish. Otherwise, they're much like other kids although they never see their parents, and indeed have no idea of the existence of such a thing as a parent. Kathy, Tommy and Ruth are three of the children, just on the threshold of puberty and caught up in a triangle of affection and deception.
Jump forward to 1985, and the three are 18 year olds taking their first tentative steps into the world, while Part 3 sees them as far as 1994, but I can't tell you any more details since there is a plot revelation in Part 1 which changes our perception of the story, and which I wouldn't dream of revealing - especially since there isn't a lot else going on. I can say that Carey Mulligan plays Kathy, Keira Knightley is Ruth and Andrew Garfield is Tommy (in parts 2 and 3, at least), and that Carey Mulligan is the main reason to see the film, though Garfield also has a certain quirky charm.
Unfortunately there are many reasons not to see the film, among which are: an infuriating soundtrack of strings that starts up every so often, drenching proceedings in a kind of mournful romanticism, and adds nothing useful. There is also a voiceover, which serves little narrative purpose and simply distances the audience from proper emotional involvement. But the third and most problematic issue is that it is not clear quite what the point of the film is. Political allegory? Highbrow scifi? Tragic romance? Possibly all three, in which case, they all bump into each other and make for a crowded sub genre. I suffered from that all too familiar problem of not really caring what happened to the characters, which - especially in a film like this - is fatal. It looks great, but I don't think I can let you go.
