Hélène (Vicki Krieps), a Luxembourger living in France, is disagnosed with a terminal lung condition. With a husband (the late Gaspard Ulliel) whose concern she finds smothering, and friends who are not sure how to react, she turns to the Internet for solace and stumbles across the website of 'Mister' (Bjørn Floberg), who is receiving treatment for intestinal cancer. After a few webchats in which the two establish a rapport, she decides to visit Mister, hoping to achieve, in his remote Norwegian village, greater understanding of what is happening to her.
Given the subject matter, this film could have been laden with histrionics - floods of tears, screaming etc - but thankfully such scenes are kept to a minimum, even though Hélène's emotions are all over the place and some of her speeches veer dispiritingly close to the 'finding myself' variety. Krieps gives a good performance, aided by a script that does not make Hélène someone mired in self-pity; Hélène desires self-exploration rather than feeling sorry for herself. Ulliel, as the husband who, after giving her so much support, feels left out of his wife's new relationship, is as admirably restrained as the script allows. It is hard to judge the performance of Floberg; it could be that as 'Mister' is such a taciturn character the actor was given little with which to work.
The film contains a lengthy sex scene that, with its tender close-ups and following of 'less is more' in terms of skin revealed per shot, is very erotic.
With its small cast and slow, quiet tone, this would not be for everyone. But if you are after a good human-interest drama, 'More than Ever' would be a good choice.
