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Me, Myself, I

Page written by Kelly Fletcher

To Begin With

In order to begin researching this film, the first and only place I used was the World Wide Web. Because this film is a new release at the box office, I figured that there would be a lot of write ups, a lot of critical reviews, quite a few web sites made specifically for this film, and a lot of production notes including some history about the films creators, Phillips Karmel and Fabien Liron. I used the Yahoo search engine which might or might not have been working against me, because this engine is American, and they seem to place a lot more emphasis on American films, than "foreign" films, as Yahoo called it. I came up with quite a lot of information on the film, mainly the basics such as the main web page, and a list of the cast and credits. There was a list of credits on the prior work of Phillipa Karmel, but nothing on Fabien Liron, who I had to go searching for independently. Then I went and actually saw the film for myself, after a lot of time doing just research, and I was able to understand more clearly the critique concerning the film, and the comments used from the producer and director.

Synopsis: Pamela Drury is suffering a personal crisis, even though she has travelled the world, has a great career, and even owns real estate! She somehow feels that she has missed the love boat when it comes to men and relationships and finds herself full of regret at turning down the love of her life, Robert Dickson, 13 years beforehand. Then, one magical day, she coincidentally runs into herself! Pamela's alter ego married Robert 13 years ago, and now has a wonderful marriage, three children, and a family dog to complete the picture. Then suddenly, the alter ego vanishes; leaving Pamela stuck living the life of her other self, with hilarious and poignant consequences.

Cast and Credits:

Rachel Griffiths

Rachel Griffiths comes to this film fresh from her role as Hilary Du Pre in Hilary and Jackie (1996). Her character is Pamela Drury, a thirty-something career woman who seems to have it all. This is her first major role in a romantic comedy, and admits preparing for the genre by watching the forever-breeding number of Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan films. Rachel immediately loved the script, and could foretell its success. Her character is described in the synopsis.

David Roberts

David Roberts plays Robert Dickson, a mid-to-late thirties career man who is preoccupied with status in lieu of his deteriorating relationship with his wife. He sees himself having a stable life despite him having a past affair that did some serious damage to his marriage. He is a very selfish man, who is also very neglectful of anything that doesn't have to do with his career as an architect.

This is David Roberts' first major role in any feature film after having an extensive career in theatre and television.

Sandy Winton

Sandy Winton plays the role of Ben, who is actually two characters in different situations, but deep within, is still the same person. Sandy says that it was Philippa's (Karmel) script that drew him towards the role of Ben. He began his acting career in the theatre, working in such productions as Blackrock and Herbal Rod.

Yael Stone

Yael Stone plays the role of Stacey, stubborn, adolescent daughter of Pamela and Robert. This was a new environment and a bundle of new experiences for Yael who was perfectly cast and she admits strong likeness between the character and herself.

Shaun Loseby

Shaun plays the difficult, terrorist-in-training younger brother Douglas. Shaun has just finished his role in the Australian feature film Passion.

Trent Sullivan

Trent is only four years of age, but he steals the show in his scenes as Rupert, the youngest sibling. This was his first acting role, and he was excited at the chance to "do a fake wee and eat a lot of Twisties".

Credits

Director

Philippa Karmel

Director of Photography

Graeme Lind

Producer

Fabien Liron, Philippa Karmel

Writer

Philippa Karmel

Composer

Charlie Chan

Costume Designer

Paul Warren, Ariane Weiss

Editor

Denise Haratzis

Production Designer

Murray Picknett

Screenwriter

Philippa Karmel

Release Dates and other Details

Me, Myself, I was released in America on April 7, 2000 with an R rating for sexuality and language. It was given an M rating here in Australia when it was released on April 20, 2000. Box office figures are unavailable at the time. The film has a romance/comedy genre, and runs for 104 minutes. It is distributed by Sony Pictures Classics.

Critics Review

http://www.boxoffice.com/- Box Office Magazine. 2.5 stars out of five. "Here we go again! If "Blind Chance", "Sliding Doors" and "Run Lola Run", movies about people who get to live alternate versions of their life weren't enough, we now have an Aussie version of this increasingly tired theme"

http://www.filmjournal.com/- Film Journal international "rarely manages to rise above its basic premise and seems unable to resist photographing small children at play or in the bathroom"

http://www.indiewire.com/- Indiewire "Narcissistic and sweet tale of What if?"

Personal Review

When I went to go and see the film for myself, I was familiar with Rachel Griffiths work, and was prepared to see some more of the great acting that she delivers. I left a little disappointed. Her character of Pamela Drury spent all of the time still coming to grips with what had happened regarding the switch into a new life, even when the film had reached its ending. She spent most of her time wandering around in a confused daze. There were some humorous moments in the film, such as Pamela mastering the art of the diaphragm and the times when her first personality comes shining through into the world of domesticity. These patches of comedy seem to rise just as the film seems to be going a little flat. The characters seemed well cast, and the acting is done well, but I feel that the story failed to convey any sort of point to the audience. There didn't seem to be any kind of lesson learned or any conclusion that managed to tie up loose ends for the audience. I would give it about a five out of ten.

Pip Karmel

Phillipa Karmel is certainly not new to this industry. Before making Me, Myself, I, she worked as editor to the documentary titled The Ultimate Athlete, directed by Scott Hicks. Prior to that, she was the editor to the award-winning film, Shine. A long list of credits follows Shine, right back from when she graduated with a BA in Fine Arts (editing and directing) from AFTRS. In the films she has worked on, she has been the writer, director or editor.

Fabien Liron

Prior to the making of Me, Myself, I , Liron was looking for English language films to develop for the international market. He was involved in the financing and distribution of films such as Koyla, and Shine. Pip Karmel was nominated for an Academy Award for her editing in Shine, and Liron met up with her when she came back from the ceremony, and the rest is history!

At the time of its release, Me, Myself, I, was inevitably compared to such other similar films like Sliding Doors. Me, Myself, I, manages to make a difference by showing the one Pamela living both lives, while her alter ego lives her original life, although we are not shown her doing this. Depending on what you read, it was either good, or it wasn't, the critics differ greatly, as shown above. In today's film market, I think that Australian filmmakers are looking towards more mainstream films that'll make money and boost Australia more into the mainstream market. With bigger budgets, Australian films today have the quality of American made movies and are advertised as so when they come to the cinema. They can afford well known actors, in this case Rachel Griffiths, and in Holy Smoke there was Kate Winslet, of Titanic fame. As of late, the proportion of American films to Australian films as new releases at the cinema, for example, had decreased. Popular music as soundtracks draws the attention of bigger audiences, as Me, Myself, I, Holy Smoke and Looking for Alibrandi have. This is something that American films often do. It makes people look up as it is being advertised, perhaps on the television, or the radio. This shows the rise of the Australian movie and its potential for it to be as popular as the American film. I hope that one day the origin of the film will not matter and that Australian film will not be looked upon any more as being different or not as popular as American film, because I feel that there is potential in this contemporary age for our film to achieve that. This was demonstrated in Me, Myself, I because the film followed a modern theme that is still popular, even though the same concept has been developed in prior, recent films.