Five Feet Apart

“It’s just life Stella, it will be over before you know it”

~ Will

This lovely romantic drama starring Cole Sprouse and Haylee Lu Richardson as Will Newman and Stella Grant is a complicated, tragic yet an extremely heart touching love story of two people suffering from cystic fibrosis -- genetic disease that affects both the respiratory and digestive system, significantly reducing the life span of those affected and limiting their interactions with one another due to fear of bacterial cross-infection. Stella is friendly, organized and vibrant who tries to live a normal life despite her illness. However, she has a very commanding personality and resorts to extremely methodical means in order to follow her treatment and constantly wants to make sure others like her are following it too. Will, on the other hand ,who comes to the hospital for his medication trial is a rule breaker and has a more relaxed approach towards his treatment of B.capecia, a bacterial infection he has in his lungs.

This movie very significantly brings out how we constantly struggle to stay in control of our lives and let the things that are out of our hands determine how we feel and influence the choices we make. Stella constantly dwelled in the fear of dying and how it would affect her parents. After developing an instant connection with Will, she realizes how all this time she has been living for her treatments and not doing her treatments so that she could live!

Will is free spirited and wants to live before he dies due to his supposedly fatal disease but at the same time he’s excessively ignorant about his treatment. Stella helps him follow his treatment regimen and gives him hope that he will get better. Both the characters are polar opposites, yet they learn from each other and grow together and thereby re-defining ‘LOVE’ for us once again.

Inspite of all the hurdles that they were navigating, both Will and Stella decided to embrace the attraction. All cystic fibrosis patients are supposed to stay 6 ft apart at all times but they decided to steal one foot , just ONE FOOT from a disease that stole so much from them, hence they decide to stay ‘FIVE FEET APART’ from each other. They dared to love even when they had multiple reasons not to.

Their date at the hospital pool ends with both of them revealing scars from their past surgeries, which again is a symbolic representation of the fact that these two young people chose to be vulnerable around each other and very literally it also highlights all that they’ve gone through.

Some other major highlights of the movie include - Stella’s relationship with her best friend Poe and Will’s conversations with Stella. There are instances, moments and scenes which were exhilarating and wholesome, showing how happiness exists in the little things like the part where Stella throws Will a surprise birthday party.

When they escape from the hospital to see the lights -- an another scary yet much needed attempt at living life, the two end on top of a frozen pond and dance around. After receiving a message from the hospital that said they had found lungs that were a suitable match to Stella, Will convinces her to go back but she doesn’t see any point in extending her life by five years or so. While talking, she accidentally falls into the pond. Will not only saves her life but also convinces her to take the lungs. The lung transplant is successful and miraculously she doesn’t contract Will’s infection.

After Stella wakes up from her surgery, she sees Will through the glass window of her room. He sets up a display of lights for her and tells her that his drug trial isn’t working. He confesses his love for her and walks away, leaving his sketch book behind so that she doesn’t have to deal with his eventual death.

The ending was extremely heart wrenching and emotional but also at the same time it was passionate and inspirational. Will loved her enough to let her go. He put her well being and happiness before his , he shows us that love isn’t always about holding on because sometimes it’s about letting them go.

Cole and Haylee very flawlessly brought their characters to life and their work is beyond all praise. Five Feet Apart is a beautiful story that re-defines love for all of us. It teaches us important life lessons that we often tend to forget in the course of our lives. It also shows us the importance of human touch and how it’s essential to us just like the air we breathe. Love them, care about them and show up while you still can. Live while you still can!

‘Well, you only need the light when it's burning low Only miss the sun when it starts to snow Only know you love her when you let her go Only know you've been high when you're feeling low Only hate the road when you're missing home Only know you love her when you let her go…… And you let her go’