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Saturday January 26th Away From Her 12a UK 2007
Director: Sarah Polley Writer: Sarah Polley Stars: Julie Christie, Gordon Pinsent, Olympia Dukakis, Michael Murphy
Although much of her fledgling career has been spent in front of the camera, Sarah Polley emerges as a serious writing-directing talent with Away From Her. It's a low-key yet powerful and uplifting story of love renewed amid the ravages of old age. Julie Christie, even in her sultry sex bomb days, has rarely been more radiant than as a 60-something woman whose memories of life with her husband (Gordon Pinsent) are gradually being eroded by Alzheimer's disease. Polley brings hope, poetry and light to a place of apparent desolation. There are haunting flashes of the past while, in the present, a dramatic snowy landscape hints at the barren space growing between the couple. Then she frequently undercuts this mood of whimsical melancholy with outrageous humour. So one patient (Thomas Hauff) is an ex-sports pundit who commentates on everything from a walk down the hall to a wistful glance! It's a cannily composed story, soulful and wonderfully acted. Pinsent is a sturdy anchor and Olympia Dukakis adds a touch of big city wit as Aubrey's world-weary wife. It's the nuances in Christie's performance, however, that really linger in the mind. Outstanding, don’t miss this exceptional film. This synopsis was compiled from notes at Filmbank and BBC Movies Review Julie Christie won Best Actress at the Golden Globe Awards 2008 for this performance. She is nominated for a Bafta and an Academy Award. Definitely unmissable.
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Away From Her is a beautifully moving love story
that deals with memory and the circuitous, unnameable paths of a
long
marriage. Married for 50 years, Grant and Fiona’s commitment to each other appears
unwavering, and their everyday life is full of tenderness and humour.
This serenity is broken only by the occasional, carefully restrained
reference to the past, giving a sense that this marriage may not always
have been such a fairy tale. This tendency of Fiona’s to make
such references, along with her increasingly evident memory loss, creates
a tension that is usually brushed off casually by both of them. As
the lapses become more obvious and dramatic, it is no longer possible
for either of them to ignore the fact that Fiona is suffering from
Alzheimer’s disease.