If I Stay

How quickly life can take an unexpected direction: Just moments ago, Mia Hall's (Chloë Grace Moretz) biggest problems were whether she'd been accepted to New York's prestigious Jouliard School and a falling out with her boyfriend Adam (Jamie Blackley). But suddenly a car accident snaps her out of her life. While her body struggles to survive in a coma, Mia's mind wanders through the hospital, watching her grieving relatives and friends and revisiting the past months. Is what she has left after this accident enough to want to keep living, or is it time for Mia to let go?

If I Stay is based on the bestselling young adult book of the same name by Gayle Forman. Director R.J. Cutler (Nashville) has created a touching teen romance from the book template, which, although at times bathing a bit too much in kitsch, also has a lot of beautiful and very emotional moments to offer. The tragic accident and its consequences are not really in the foreground of the story. Rather, the love story of Mia and Adam is told here, which was at an important divorce point at the time of the accident. And so the question arises: is Adam's uncertain love enough to give Mia enough courage to face life? Can he absorb the loss she has experienced? Can he at least give her the strength to find new courage to live again, should she awaken from her coma?

The viewer can really only guess at the end. But the tender romance that develops between the two over a period of several months foreshadows the strength of their love. Mia, as a talented cellist who loves to listen to Beethoven, is more of an outsider, though her parents - father (Joshua Leonard) was once a bona fide rock musician and her mother (Mireille Enos) his biggest fan - are always at pains to loosen her up. It's not until she meets Adam, a young musician on the verge of a breakthrough with his band, that she finds someone she truly connects with and who brings her out of her shell. This is not always easy and also makes for occasional crises - especially when Mia has to choose between her love for Adam and her passion for music.

This is a really nice story, though at times it pretends to be a bit deeper than it actually is. Mia's treatise, for example, about how a cello is not a solo instrument after all, as she has hitherto believed, but can only unfold its full beauty when played together with others, comes across as a bit of precocious life wisdom. But even if the production as a whole remains rather superficial and ticks off countless clichés, the whole thing is absolutely successful for the intended target group. Because especially for teenage viewers, If I Stay is actually the perfect movie for a date. Even if boys might find the sad romance rather uncool, they are offered several times the perfect opportunity to take their beloved in their arms and to comfort her - because a few tears are guaranteed to flow. And for girls the story is really very beautifully implemented, whereby here also the actors play an important role.

Die succeeds in particular Chloë Grace Moretz and Jamie Blackley very well to play convincingly against the somewhat flat script. There's a believable and thoroughly sizzling chemistry between the two, so they make a really cute couple that you'd want to see stay together and be happy. This is actually crucial to the film's success, as the whole thing stands or falls on the audience's emotional connection. In addition to the two main characters, however, the supporting cast including Mireille Enos (The Killing), Joshua Leonard (The Blair Witch Project), Liana Liberato, and the great Stacey Keach ensure that as an audience member, you feel for and sympathize with these characters. And that's exactly why, despite all the clichés and superficialities, If I Stay works very well overall. It's not a masterpiece, but as a poignant romance for a target teen audience, the film is without a doubt: absolutely worth watching!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp