Something
Cult, Foreign or Indie #44: Away from Her (2006).
Grant
(Gordon Pinsent) and Fiona Anderson (Julie Christie) are an elderly
couple who've been married happily for 50 years. Their bond remains
tight, but Fiona has recently contracted Alzheimer's disease. When
she is moved into a retirement home, Grant struggles to cope with her
cognitive deterioration, particularly once she develops a similarly
close bond with fellow patient Aubrey (Michael Murphy). Grant wants to
help Fiona in her new life but isn't sure if he can yet let her go
and if so, how to. Finally, after counsel from nurse Kristy (Kristen
Thomson) and Aubrey's wife Marian (Olympia Dukakis), Grant makes a brave
act of self-sacrifice in order to provide Fiona's last happiness.
Based
on Alice Munro's short story The
Bear Came Over the Mountain,
writer-director Sarah Polley's work here is admirable. Her
Oscar-nominated screenplay observantly evokes the depth and longevity
of Fiona and Grant's union in how they interact with real, hard-won
trust and faith in each other, and it accurately covers the
neuroscience and psychology of dementia, aging and loss. Her
direction is even better; she uses the frozen Canadian landscape as
an insightful metaphor for the sense of isolation and concern her
characters are enduring, and later she gets the feel (in every sense)
of a nursing home or palliative care unit down to a fever pitch. I
should know; I've seen dementia as a relative.
And
then there are her stars. Julie Christie was deservedly
Oscar-nominated for her portrayal of Fiona; she is hauntingly subtle
and brings real childlike innocence to the newly vulnerable Fiona
that makes it all the more moving. Gordon Pinsent is her equal as he
tenderly depicts an externally stoic but shattered man, cynical of
Fiona's carers, who slowly learns how to find closure and comfort for
them both.
An
accurate, sincere and very delicate treatment of two challenging
subjects, Away from Her
is exquisitely beautiful and powerful.
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