FIVE FEET APART

US, 2019, 116 minutes, Colour.
Hayley Lu Richardson, Cole Sprouse, Moises Arias, Kimberly Hebert Gregory, Parminda Nagra, Claire Forlani, Emily Baldoni, Gary Weeks.
Directed by Justin Baldoni.

This review is based not on a preview screening for critics but on a Sunday afternoon suburban screening, thirty or so in the cinema, most the same age as the central characters up there on the screen, late teens, young adults.

This is definitely a young adults story. It must have worked well with our audience, so many of them sobbing, one girl close by, audibly sobbing. (And, when the lights came up during the final credits, quite a number of sniffles suddenly being supplanted by self-conscious giggles about the sobbing.)

Most of the action takes place inside a hospital. The two central characters have cystic fibrosis. They are in a strict regimen of medication, of wearing masks, of keeping six feet away from each other to avoid infection from cystic fibrosis. The staff is sympathetic but also strict.

We are first introduced to Stella (Hayley Lu Richardson), late teens, ill for some years, devoted parents, entering hospital while her friends go on vacation, orderly in her life, referring often to herself sometimes as OCD. She certainly can be bossy. In passing, she encounters Will (Cole Sprouse), disapproving of some of his behaviour, considering him irresponsible in his not keeping to his regimen, his joking. In hospital is Po (Moises Arias) Stella’s friend from childhood days. Eventually, they will form something of a Three Musketeers group.

One of the values of this kind of film (and other films like The Fault in our Stars) is that it offers a younger audience who don’t spend a lot of time thinking about illness let alone the prospect of early death, an opportunity to see characters, empathise with them, learn from them about the challenge of terminal illness.

Which means then that these films about illness are versions of romantic comedies, this time romance at a distance, 5 feet apart, some funny situations, and, as the parody of romantic comedies in Isn’t it Romantic mention, nowadays the presence of the gay friend (Po here) and some equivalent of a dancing sequence. This time, in fact, with Stella and Will escaping from the hospital, dancing and skating on ice – and the sudden shock of it being thinner ice than they anticipated.

Stella demands a deal with Will, that he be stricter and responsible and that she will allow him to draw her. This enables them to be more honest with themselves, be more honest with each other – including a moving sequence at a pool where they reveal their disfigured bodies to each other.

There is quite some melodrama towards the end of the film, an event certainly not anticipated and causing quite a crisis when suddenly the lungs of a dead girl become available for transplant.

The film does not avoid realities of death but presents them in a humane way that a healthy teenage audience can deal with – and, after the sobs, reflect on more realistically. Not a bad thing.

1. A film of illness, treatment, relationships?

2. The title, literal application for health protection? The continued reminders throughout the film, the characters at each end of the pole? Breaking through the six feet barrier?

3. The city, the hospital, interiors, exteriors? Flashbacks? Going outside, the winter night, the snow and the ice? The musical score?

4. The opening, introduction to Stella, her friends, discussing holidays? Late teens, their approach to life, happiness? Stella farewelling, going to hospital? Her illness, cystic fibrosis, breathing, her lungs? The dangers? The hope for a transplant? Stella comfortable in hospital, the equipment, the regime? Barb and her care, the rest of the staff? The requirements? Medical, wearing the mask, Stella making a home in her room?

5. Walking, noticing Will, his friends and their sexual behaviour in his room? Her disapproval? Going upstairs, looking at the babies? Will’s approach, her not responding, then talking, her severity and judgement? Seeing him on the roof, his jokes, her not finding them funny, locking him out? The discussions, the deal, her insisting on his keeping to his regime, his wanting to draw her? Their arguments, the encounters, the gradual attraction? The difficulties of the regime, 6 feet, danger of infection, touch? Stella and her obsessiveness, OCD demands? His drawing? Starting
on his regime?

6. Time passing, their talking, bonding, sharing, their age, his 18th birthday? The family stories? Stella telling the story of Abby, her death dive, dying alone? Stella blaming herself, her grief? The bond with her parents? Will and his glamorous and focused mother?

7. Stella and her friendship since childhood with Po? His manner, gay, in love with Michael, the breakup? Memories of childhood, talking with Will, no sexual threat?

8. The risks and the wearing of masks, Stella producing the pole, at each end of it, going to watch the fish, going to the pool, talking, falling in and splashing? The date, Stella and the dress? The significance of the time at the pool, each revealing their limited and wounded bodies? The temptation to kiss?

9. Will and his 18th birthday, his friends not coming, Stella phoning and apologising? Will’s day and the disappointment? The messages, the balloons, Will following the balloons, the surprise party, his friends all there, Po preparing the banquet, the photos, Barb catching them?

10. Po, the collapse, his death? Stella watching? Her grief, going to her room, the eruption and smashing?

11. Stella talking with Will, wanting to see the lights, going for the walk, the talk, her wearing a glove and their being able to touch, on the ice, skating, and receiving the news about the transplant, her decision not to go? Falling on the ice, Will and his reviving Stella, mouth-to-mouth? Saving her?

12. The preparation for the lung transplant, Will telling her to have the transplant for his sake? The staff urging her not to waste the lungs? Her doing it for him? The parents and their anxiety when Stella was lost, Will’s mother and her concern? Will and his bill of health, not infected by Stella but Barb telling him that the regime was not having any effect?

13. The success of the operation, Will and his farewell, getting Stella to close her eyes? The gift of the book of sketches?

14. Stella, talking to camera, reflecting on her experiences, the importance of touch and love, various images from the past and of capital?

15. A film for teenagers – and to be conscious of the reality of illness and the reality of death?