"Seventeen-year-old Stella spends most of her time in the hospital as a cystic fibrosis patient. Her life is full of routines, boundaries and self-control -- all of which get put to the test when she meets Will, an impossibly charming teen who has the same illness. There's an instant flirtation, though restrictions dictate that they must maintain a safe distance between them. As their connection intensifies, so does the temptation to throw the rules out the window and embrace that attraction."
Is it weird that Cody from The Suite Life of Zach and Cody is 26 now? Or that Moises Arias, a.k.a. Rico from Hannah Montana is 24? The only reason why I mention this is because both of them play a part in this romantic drama Five Feet Apart. That and now I feel incredibly old. There are really only two main constituents of the film to talk about; how well the romance storyline was portrayed, and how well cystic fibrosis (CF) was represented. So let's start by looking at the CF portion.
Ultimately, the film does really well to show how these teens lives are affected by CF. For those not in the know about it, CF is a life-threatening disease that damages the digestive system and lungs, cause excessive amounts of thick mucus to build-up. A lot of medication, physio, and breathing treatments are used to hold the condition at bay, where even a lung transplant can only extend their life by around 5 years.
And that is how it is represented in the film. There are no attempts made to try and make the condition cute or to mask the life-threatening nature of it. In fact, the authenticity of the disease is actually the driving factor of the film; where CF patients actually pose an extreme risk to each other and must stay six feet apart (as a guideline) to prevent the exchange of harmful bacteria. Whereas most romantic dramas will have an external source (the parents, for instance) that prevents "true love" from blooming, but in this case, the restrictions come from their own bodies and the risk of accelerating their journey towards death.
So straight off the bat, you know this is going to be an emotional film. It's about a trio of teenagers that are effectively dying, all currently living in the hospital and aren't able to hang out as teens normally do despite their shared illness. While they can't hang out together, they can be around people that aren't suffering from CF, and the film again does a great job highlighting the close relationships that these kids have with their parents and nurses, and the undeniable loneliness that they would otherwise be constantly afflicted by. So as far as the representation of CF goes, Five Feet Apart has clearly done their homework, and hopefully, this movie is popular and actually helps to bring awareness to the illness (to in turn bring some funding to help researchers in finding a cure).
As far as the romantic interest plot of the film, Hayley Lu Richardson is absolutely amazing in this role. She has all of the grace and authenticity that the role really needed to sell this. While her counterpart Cole Sprouse looks more like the generic bad boy/pretty boy that was just told to where the nose piece to fit the scene, Hayley Lu Richardson truly looks like she is living in a hospital, looks like she has to wear the nose piece 24/7, and has that great demeanour of someone that is going through a lot but determined to make it through. What a battler.
Cole Sprouse with his recent role in Riverdale will no doubt have his fans, and they will love this film regardless of his cheesy dialogue and rather blank acting skills. there are certainly some moments where he does well, but that is in the more quiet, subtle moments. Whenever it comes to big decisions or plot-turning dialogue, everything feels over-the-top and cheesy.
While a more minor role, Kimberly Hébert Gregory a.k.a. Nurse Barb is the other standout performance of the film. As a character not afflicted by CF, she is really the only person that is able to pull off any comedic elements and is able to input a balanced level of sass alongside her near-parental levels of devotion to these kids.
Stella and Will (Hayley Lu Richardson and Cole Sprouse respectively) have some great chemistry on screen. Despite the cheesy dialogue, the whole CF illness adds a new dimension to every interaction, adding danger, as well as an emotional intensity purely from being close to each other. The reason why the film is called Five Feet Apart and not six feet apart is an endearing part of the plot and watching these kids on Death's door, you want them to be able to experience love. There is great use of camera shots, with some close-ups for bringing that strong emotion to the screen, while the wide shots further accentuate the distances they need to keep.
Overall, Five Feet Apart is a by-the-numbers flick that doesn't really provide anything new to the genre, but their representation of Cystic Fibrosis in the film brings such an intense emotional strength to it that you can look past the sappy, sloppily written dialogue and still come out of the theatres impacted by it. Emotional manipulation at it's best, but it works.