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 My
Life Without Me is a weepie for audiences under the (mistaken)
impression that independent movies are always more emotionally honest
than Hollywood movies. Sarah Polley (pictured), who has a lovely
presence, plays a working-class mother of two who finds out from
a doctor that she has only a few months to live. She immediately
makes a list of all the things she wants to do. One of her wishes
is to have an affair, even though her marriage is a happy one. As
her suitor, Mark Ruffalo does his best to give the role some density
and gruffness, but the writer-director, Isabel Coixet, saddles him
with unplayable pronouncements like “The world seems less terrible
because you exist.” (1 hr., 42 mins.; R) — PETER RAINER
Opens September 26
• Showtimes
& tickets (movietickets.com)
Spotlight: Sarah Polley
After beginning as a child actress and progressing to Canadian soaps
and supporting roles, the sleepy-eyed and soft-voiced Sarah Polley
is finally getting leads. But producers must think she has a morbid
streak: This week, the 24-year-old does her understated best to
save My Life Without Me, playing a young mother who, dying
of cancer, has an affair with a scruffy stranger (Mark Ruffalo).
Next week, she’ll join Parker Posey in the cheeky Chelsea
murder mystery The Event, which, Polley says, “also
manages to deal with death—but in a different, funny way.”
And next year, she’ll headline a gory remake of the cult classic
Dawn of the Dead. “That’s, ah, very different,”
says Polley, known best for her work with art-house heroes Atom
Egoyan, Hal Hartley, and Michael Winterbottom. “But it was
a huge thrill. I’m a zombie fan.”
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