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Film Archive

My Life Without Me

Horizons 2003 / My Life Without Me / Spain, Canada 2002

The story of a young woman who discovers the value of life the moment she is destined to lose it. 

My Life Without Me My Life Without Me

Synopsis

Ann is 23 years old. She married at 17, she has two small children, a husband who is unemployed most of the time, a mother who hates the world and a father who has been in prison for the last ten years… She works nights as a cleaning lady at a university where she’ll never be able to go during the day. She lives in a caravan in her mother’s garden, on the edge of Vancouver. Ann’s existence, however, completely changes its meaning when, after a visit to the doctor, she is given a maximum of three months to live. From this day on, she paradoxically finds a true reason to live her life to the full. “You finally discover that your whole life was just a dream and you wake up…” Without telling anyone about her diagnosis, Ann writes out a list of all the things she wants to get done before she dies. She starts fulfilling these ten commandments immediately: “To tell my daughters several times a day that I love them. To find Don another wife whom the girls would like. To record birthday messages for the girls to play every year of their lives. To visit dad in prison. To say what I think. To make love to other men so I know what it’s like. To have someone fall in love with me…”.

About the film

100 min / Color, 35 mm

Director Isabel Coixet / Screenplay Isabel Coixet / Dir. of Photography Jean Claude Larrieu / Music Alfonso de Vilallonga / Editor Lisa Jane Robison / Producer Esther García, Gordon McLennan / Production El Deseo S.A. / Cast Sarah Polley, Amanda Plummer, Scott Speedman, Leonor Watling, Deborah Harry, María de Medeiros, Mark Ruffalo / Contact Universal Pictures Group, Hollywood Classic Entertainment, Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales

About the director

Isabel Coixet

Isabel Coixet (b. 1960, Barcelona) studied contemporary history. She was artistic director of JWT agency, founder and artistic director of Target  agency and producer for Eddie Saeta. She has received the most prestigious awards for her work in advertising. In 2000 she established the production company Miss Wasabi Films, for which she also directed notable documentaries and video clips. Filmography: Too Old to Die Young (Demasiado viejo para morir joven, 1986), Things I Never Told You (Cosas que nunca te dije, 1995), Those Who I Love (A los que aman, 1998).  

Contacts

Universal Pictures Group
65 Bleecker Street, 3rd Floor, 10012, New York
United States of America
E-mail: [email protected]

Hollywood Classic Entertainment
Psohlavců 8, 147 00, Praha 4
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 226 224 111
Fax: +420 226 224 110
E-mail: [email protected]

Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales
Plaza del Rey 1, 28004, Madrid
Spain
Phone: +34 917 017 000, +34 917 017 259
Fax: +34 917 017 394
E-mail: [email protected]

Guests

Petr Plewka
Distributor

Claudi Niubo
Festival Consultant

Isabel Coixet

Barbara Piero

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