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Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go

Mark Romanek

  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Year: 2010
  • Language: English
  • Producer: Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich
  • Executive Producer: Alex Garland, Kazuo Ishiguro, Tessa Ross
  • Screenplay: Alex Garland, based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro
  • Runtime: 103
  • Programmes:

Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Tommy (Andrew Garfield) and Ruth (Keira Knightley) spent their childhood at a seemingly idyllic boarding school. When they leave the shelter of the school, the terrible truth of their fate is revealed and they must confront the deep feelings of love, jealousy and betrayal that threaten to pull them apart.

Science Fiction,  Coming of Age & Youth,  Romance

screening times

    • Saturday September 11
    • 6:00:00 PM
    • RYERSON
    • Monday September 13
    • 11:00:00 AM
    • VISA SCREENING ROOM (ELGIN)
    • Saturday September 18
    • 2:30:00 PM
    • VISA SCREENING ROOM (ELGIN)

Note: indicates Premium Screening.

official description

The English period film is a wonderful thing: lush settings, fascinating characters and an elevated tone that draws one into considerations of life’s essential truths. Never Let Me Go offers all those pleasures, but with one exquisite twist. Adapted from the celebrated novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, this story hails from a period that looks familiar but exists only in the most bracing speculative fiction.

Hailsham is an idyllic English boarding school, presided over by a strict but fair headmistress (Charlotte Rampling). Children are held to an imposing health regimen, have no parental contact and live in fear of leaving the school grounds. It soon becomes clear that something is not quite right at Hailsham. Young Kathy (Carey Mulligan) and Ruth (Keira Knightley) are fast friends; the former bold and confident and the latter soft-spoken and caring. They befriend Tommy (Andrew Garfield), a tormented and socially awkward boy prone to fits of anguish, and the trio hesitantly stumble their way into early adulthood under the guidance of their teachers, without ever having contact with the outside world. Now eighteen-year-olds, Kathy, Ruth and Tommy must leave Hailsham for The Cottages, a mysterious place outside the safety of their school, to learn the ominous future that awaits them. Confronted with a secret that threatens to tear their lives apart, they struggle to thwart their fate.

Director Mark Romanek paints Ishiguro’s world in the colours and textures of the English countryside, immersing his very talented actors in surroundings both resonant and strange. Knightley and Mulligan do wonderful work conveying the heartbreaking pathos of their situation, a feeling amplified by Romanek’s careful crafting of the film’s mood. Mood is all important here because this story demands the delicate balance of science fiction without science, in a dystopia that feels like a real, lived memory. Filled with innovation and intricate emotion, this is a rich, haunting story of love and sacrifice.

Cameron Bailey

director bio

Mark Romanek was born in Chicago and studied cinema and photography at Ithaca College. He has directed award-winning music videos and documentaries for such diverse artists as Audioslave, David Bowie, Johnny Cash, Janet and Michael Jackson, Jay-Z, Madonna, Nine Inch Nails and Sonic Youth. His feature films include: Static (85), One Hour Photo (02) and Never Let Me Go (10).

full credits

Principal Cast: Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightly, Charlotte Rampling
Producer: Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich
Executive Producer: Alex Garland, Kazuo Ishiguro, Tessa Ross
Cinematographer: Adam Kimmel
Editor: Barney Pilling
Sound: Glenn Freemantle
Music: Rachel Portman
Production Designer: Mark Digby
     
Production Company: Fox Searchlight Pictures
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