YouTube Couple ‘The Frey Life’ Responds To Cystic Fibrosis Movie ‘Five Feet Apart’

Mary and Peter Frey capture the daily lives as part of their YouTube channel “The Frey Life.” A big part of their lives involves managing Mary’s Cystic Fibrosis, a chronic genetic disease which affects the lungs and other organs, making them prime candidates to discuss the buzz involving the movie “Five Feet Apart.”

The film, which follows two teenagers who fall in love and are forced to keep their distance due to their CF disease and infection control, has garnered major attention. So much so, the couple recently responded to the film on their YouTube channel.

As part of a live stream late last month, Mary and Peter talked about the movie at the request of their viewers. At the time, the couple confirmed they had yet to see the film in full, only the trailer, and have not read the book the film is based on before sharing their views.

“We should come at this movie as what it is: a movie. It is not a medical journal. It is a Hollywood interpretation of a life impacted by Cystic Fibrosis,” Mary said.

One of the biggest complaints about the film among the CF community has been questioning if it depicts and educates about CF correctly. Responding to this, Mary said everyone will have a different perspective on the project based on their individual situations.

“We shouldn’t take medical advice from it. We shouldn’t assume that everybody who has this disease has a life that looks like this way. And we shouldn’t prescribe that people should live the way that this movie talks about,” she explained.

“There’s never going to be the perfect portrayal of Cystic Fibrosis because Cystic Fibrosis looks so different in everybody’s life. It’s not going to be this perfect documentation...of course, that’s not what it is.”

While the movie may be facing some backlash, Mary said it is a big benefit for a feature film to be highlighting CF. “Even if somebody doesn’t watch the movie, they are going to see the posts on Facebook, they are going to see the billboard at the movie theater… They’re going to Google it… Education is always a good thing. Awareness is always a good thing.”

Ultimately, Peter said it’s clear from the trailer the film isn’t trying to“hijack” the disease and dissect it for entertainment purposes, despite it being so “polarizing” among the CF community.

“At the end of the day, I think that it will be a movie that is probably a better portrayal than most things in Hollywood,” he said.

“Five Feet Apart,” starring Cole Sprouse and Haley Lu Richardson, is now playing in theaters. Follow “The Frey Life” on YouTube and learn more about Cystic Fibrosis here.