This is quite a powerful and touching drama and it is only in the post-film credit sequences that we are told it is based on two real lives. I am not sure if this should have been revealed at the start though but it is difficult after the event to know what the advantages and disadvantages of this would have been.
I did find in the early part of the film that the visual style was irritating. Much was very dimly lit and the camera work was often shaky, oddly framed and out of focus. I don’t know if this was meant to add a layer of authenticity, to lead us to think that we were just eavesdropping on these people’s lives but the overall effect was, frankly pretty annoying. It interfered with the storytelling.
However, as the end approached the drama really did become powerfully engaging – and with a wistful yet optimistic ending – a nicely balanced emotional message. And the ‘self-conscious ‘artiness’ of much of the first part of the film was not really needed to tell the story; it was powerful enough to stand on its own merits.