|
AWAY FROM HER Send This Review to a Friend
Canadian director Sarah Polley’s “Away from Her,” showcased at the 2006 Toronto International Film festival and finally in commercial release, poses a most difficult husband-wife situation. Fiona (Julie Christie in an exquisite performance) realizes that she has Alzheimer’s disease. She and her husband Grant (Gordon Pinsent) have been in a loving marriage for 50 years. But she jolts him when she insists that she wants to leave him to go into a medical residence where she can inevitably deteriorate without putting a burden on him.
Grant fights against the idea, and even after she moves into the residence, he does not want to let go, still trying to be there for her even though she wants to keep him at bay to allow herself to peace and independence she seeks. Gradually, she barely acknowledges him as her illness worsens, and what affection she can muster is turned toward a fellow patient Aubrey (Michael Murphy).
The issues raised in this heartbreaking movie will resonate among many who have faced the problems of watching relatives decline in their mental abilities. People try to cope in different ways. Fiona’s method is shocking, but brave in a woman’s assertion to take matters into her own hands insofar as she is able.
The screenplay, written by Polley based on Alice Munro’s short story “The Bear Came over the Mountain,” treads fearlessly on emotional terrain. A further poignant development is the meeting of Grant and Marian, Aubrey’s wife, played with wisdom and restraint by Olympia Dukakis. Thrown together in common loss, they begin to relate to each other in a mature manner that opens yet another vista—the need to go on living for those whose loved ones depart, whether through death or fading into the shadows.
It is great to see Christie at work again, especially in this beautifully truthful performance that doesn’t have a false note. The same can be said for the excellent performances by Pinsent, Dukakis and Murphy. A Lionsgate release.
|