Watched on Netflix

"Never Let Me Go" (in the German version "Alles, was wir geben mussten"-Everything we had to give) is a science fiction melodrama, but it turns the typical elements of the genre upside down. Instead of being set in a futuristic high-tech world, the film takes place in an alternative present of the seventies and doesn't care about technological fuss; and where in melodrama one likes to indulge in the very big emotions, the movie based on a novel by the author and Nobel Prize winner for Literature Kazuo Ishiguro reveals these only in small nuances, restrained and quiet.

The common interface of both genres, the description of the social, societal and political structure of this fictitious Great Britain, is almost completely ignored, broken down to the perspective of three outsiders, which is insignificant in the overall context.

In general, Romanek's work is among those films that deliberately leave many empty spaces and merely convey a feeling for the invisible. Outside of the frame and somewhere behind the eyes and gestures of the protagonists there is a lot to see, but "Never Let Me Go" entrusts its audience with the ability to read between the lines and merely conveys the highly fatalistic atmosphere, which continually points to the transitoriness of all being and doing of the protagonists, as a means of transport for the grey zones and nuances that are to be discovered.

The path here is clearly the goal, because the unfortunate fate of the protagonists is fixed from the beginning anyway, there seems to be no way out. The foreign determination to which the young people are subject is impressively conveyed. The fact that the characters do not even try to evade their destiny because of their lasting conditioning creates an enormous tragedy, whose restrained performance paradoxically intensifies the effect.

The many true and yet poetic moments, the good camera work and the less futuristic and therefore credible set design create a dense atmosphere, while Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield give the setting the necessary credibility with their good play. Thus, the film can allow itself to disregard bold dramaturgies and not to be too superficially out for gimmickry.

In one sentence: "Never Let Me Go" is an unusually staged melodrama and convinces with great melancholy.