Dying Young

A young woman out of work takes a job as carer to a wealthy man undergoing treatment for leukaemia. He does not want to stay in hospital and prefers to get through the chemotherapy at home. The film makes the illness ground for romance, which is what places it squarely in its genre. What works in the narrative is the ordinariness of the days after treatment; what does not is how easily the relationship clears every obstacle. Joel Schumacher directed, with Julia Roberts and Campbell Scott. It is adapted from a novel, with a score by James Newton Howard. Who it's for: those who like the illness melodrama of the nineteen-nineties. Who it's not for: viewers wanting the illness handled realistically; the film gives its weight to the relationship and leaves the medicine behind.