note: also appears on my film review website, ShaunMunro.co.uk, and Dooyoo, thanks!
Away From Her is the writing and directorial debut of Sarah Polley, a surprising turn considering her previous body of work (acting in Go, and Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake). Perhaps more surprisingly, Polley has, in her first attempt at an endeavour such as this, crafted a mature, unrelenting effort at exploring the difficulties of dealing with Alzheimer's.
When we first meet the couple concerned - Frank (Gordon Pinsent), and Fiona (Julie Christie), unless you've read a synopsis of the film, you may be somewhat unsure as to which one of them is actually afflicted with Alzheimer's. The exposition to this effect consists of a number of social interactions which make it clear to us (it's Christie's character), and to this point, it's quite a refreshing way of introducing this tragic illness to the viewer, rather than forcefully imprinting it on us with over-the-top melodrama.
The film, much the same way as the illness itself begins to affect those it ultimately consumes, slowly flows in and out of the narrative, surrounded by intellectual banter (and even a quaint little commentary on "American garbage" cinema), and just when everything seems fine, Fiona will go to fetch another bottle of wine and become very confused. This dynamic ensures that the viewer isn't bombarded with either too much or too little exposure to this illness too soon. Furthermore, there are occasional injections of humour, such as Fiona
declaring "what an ugly baby" whilst walking past a young boy, deviating entirely from social norms, doing so in an amusing way, but in a manner which doesn't make fun of Alzheimer's. All of Fiona's irreverence is beside-the-point in relation to her illness, and given how she interacts with Grant, one can assume that she was this facetious (or perhaps an understated version of this) before she became ill.
Grant, meanwhile, is clearly suffering through this also (a feat to which Pinsent's performance must be commended, despite its expected overshadowing by Christie). He is comforted by the fact that, his wife, in her illness, has found affections for another man, although whether she believes this "other man" to actually be her husband is a point of contention which Grant may, or may not realise. Grant feels guilt for ultimately deciding to send Fiona to a nursing home, but she assures Grant that it's her decision, one which she made before her condition began to rapidly deteriorate, I hasten to add. In this sense, atypical of many similar productions, Fiona is a strong female lead despite her illness - she sympathises for Grant, but remains firm - she will be going away from him, and perhaps it's easier for her because of her illness. It's not as such an "ignorance is bliss" message or anything so heavy-handed (in relation to the rather sensitive subject matter), but Grant has no means of getting away from this - he is ever-cogent, and as such always conscious that Fiona is quickly going to spiral downwards.
Grant's visit to the home is like a metaphor for Dante's Inferno. The first floor is seemingly quite peaceful and serene - patients play chess and relax on chairs, eating dinner with relatives at Christmas. However, the second floor is like one of the latter circles of Hell, where patient's conditions range from barely cogent to near lunacy. It's quite the bleak picture of foreshadowing that Polley paints here, when you realise that by the film's end, this is likely where Fiona will be ending up, despite Grant's insistence that she will not be needing a transfer to the second floor.
Thematically, Away From Her is all about loneliness - the sufferers of Alzheimer's are isolated, victims of their own minds, and their families are similarly afflicted, but their solitude comes in their grief, and in some cases, their failure to come to terms with what is coming. Grant has no children, which only exacerbates his negative schema.
Following the 30-day period of no contact with Fiona (which the home insists upon), Grant endures a rather gut-wrenching encounter with Fiona, and whilst it's not like we couldn't see it coming, the performances make you feel for these characters. Make no mistake, Away From Her is a sympathetic film, but is also, more to its credit, unpatronising, and we never get away from the truth of the matter. Fiona begins to feel that she needs a man of her sort, declaring "he doesn't confuse me" in reference to another sufferer of Alzheimer's she has become friendly with at the home. Grant's reaction to this is to, out of love for his wife, still come to see her every day, but effectively torture himself in seeing her with this man every day. The other man is an Alzheimer's patient himself - how can you get angry at him? Grant has no outlet for his feelings (not yet, at least), and so simply attempts to remind Fiona of who he is, in vain, as you can expect.
A curious idea is postulated (but thankfully not expanded on, or in what could have been disastrous, made a "twist"), in that perhaps Fiona is punishing Grant for the times in his life in which he wasn't a good husband. Fiona's comment prior to going to the home, that "we expect too much" would seem to refute that. Anything her husband has done has been accepted, and moreover, forgiven, it seems.
Grant eventually finds comfort in the wife of the man whom Fiona is currently involved with, although this is slow-going and awkward to begin with, and it takes a rather poignant, brief encounter with a teenage girl visiting the home to truly pull himself out of the doldrums. This point marks something of a transformation for a number of the characters - these emotionally drained individuals attempt to make the best of a terribly tragic situation, finding someone, anyone with similar problems, and clinging to them as tightly as possible.
Ultimately, Away From Her hits the expected peaks and troughs, but this isn't a film about surprises and stultifying plot twists - it is a sympathetic, affecting, uncompromising look at Alzheimer's, and how it affects the sufferers and their families (who are consequently also suffering a great deal). The pace comes close to fleeting at times, but the performances are grand (although each of them is overshadowed by Christie's certain-to-be-Oscar-nominated turn-in), and for Sarah Polley's screenwriting and directing debut, it's a very solid start, and hopefully a mere header for things to come.
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Production Year: 1995 - Drama - Director: Ang Lee - Original Language: English - Classification: Universal - Starring: Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Greg Wise, Hugh Laurie, Robert Hardy
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
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