With or Without You (1999)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Michael Winterbottom

Writer:

John Forte (writer)

Release Date:

10 September 1999 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Rosie and Vincent know each other for ten years, and are married for five. She doesn't like her job...

Plot Keywords:

Pen Pal | Hairdresser | Female Frontal Nudity | Infidelity | Infertility

Cast

Christopher Eccleston	...	Vincent Boyd
Dervla Kirwan	...	Rosie Boyd
Yvan Attal	...	Benoit
Julie Graham	...	Cathy
Alun Armstrong	...	Sammy
Lloyd Hutchinson	...	Neil
Michael Liebman	...	Brian
Doon Mackichan	...	Deidre
Gordon Kennedy	...	Ormonde
Fionnula Flanagan	...	Irene
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Peter Ballance	...	Andrew
Katia Caballero	...	Caroline
Donna Dent	...	Lillian
Phelim Drew	...	Drinker
Ruairi Ferguson	...	Michael
David Gorry	...	Ricky
Reinout Halbertsma	...	Henry
Alan McKee	...	Passport Officer
Nuala McKeever	...	Lizzy
Sean McKenzie	...	Tricky Dickie
Emma Moylan	...	Linda
Deirdre O'Kane	...	Sarah
Jennifer Page	...	Sam
Uri Roodner	...	Zabinska
Ali White	...	Rosie's Doctor

Also Known As:

Old New Borrowed Blue (UK) (working title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:III | Spain:13 | UK:18

Company:

Revolution Films

Soundtrack:

Concerto No. 1 in C Minor for Clarinet & Orchestra

A massive disappointment

With two of Britain's most reliable actors playing the leads, and a superb director of films like Jude and Wonderland, With Or Without would seem to have everything going for it. But watching the movie one quickly sinks into despair. This is a truly bland movie, with little to hold ones attention. The cast have little to do except go through the motions, the soapy proceedings are hard to believe in and don't really demand the effort. As for the actual plotting, it is unbelieveably cliched and predictable. The ending attempts to wrap things up in a novel and optimistic way and instead seems like a cinematic version of musical chairs as the time runs out and every character needs to find a place quickly. Also for a film whcih features sex as such an integral part of the plotting, it seems to have a very awkward attitude to it. The sex scenes are not particularly funny when they are meant to be, and certainly not erotic. Quite what Winterbottom saw in this and how he managed to make it so blandly is difficult to fathom. Saying it looks like a tv movie is unfair on tv movies: this is an extended episode of a fairly lazy soap opera and a crushing disappointment.