Never Let Me Go Quotes

Fashioning the book’s secrets into thriller-ish twists would have been the absolute worst decision Alex Garland’s screenplay might have made, and it’s much too smart and controlled for that. Still, it’s possible to wish it were a little more radical. Everything seems designed to reassure the book’s fans...while surreptitiously (and sensibly) pruning off its more self-conscious literary effects. Overcautious though the filmmaking tends to be, there’s a tactile emotional charge here which does cumulatively resonate.

Romanek’s film is draped in sadness, from the aching tones of Rachel Portman’s piano score to cinematographer Adam Kimmel’s muted visual palette. But it’s a sadness that will be familiar, and in some way edifying to an audience, due to the deeply felt performances of Mulligan and Garfield.