2006, Canada
Drama, Romance
Imagine a lifetime with your greatest love. Imagine that suddenly she can only remember your roughest years together and is quickly forgetting all of the time since then that you have been earning her forgiveness.
Julie Christie masterfully but quietly inhabits the deteriorating mind of Fiona, a woman in her sixties who begins a new life with Alzheimer's disease. Based on Alice Munro's short story, "The Bear Came over the Mountain," Fiona's devoted husband Grant (a superbly controlled Gordon Pinsent) struggles to hold onto the woman that he knows before she forgets what they created together.
29-year-old Sarah Polley makes her feature film directorial debut with Away from Her. No easy topic for anyone, this is a particularly impressive feat for someone so young. Yet Polley is no average twenty-something and has proven to be an intelligent and skillful actress. It is not surprising that her talents would extend behind the camera.
Beginning with little things like a misplaced pan in the freezer or forgetting a word, Fiona is fortunate enough to realize what is happening to her, stating wisely, "I think I may be beginning to disappear." Though Grant refuses to acknowledge the inevitable future, Fiona has moments of perfect clarity when she is able to make tough decisions. As her condition worsens, she willingly commits herself to a full-care facility even though he would prefer to keep her at home.
After a 30-day separation to let her settle in with staff and fellow residents, Fiona has forgotten her own husband of 44 years and finds comfort in the companionship of a strange and fragile man. Despite her final reassuring words to Grant before she fell deeper into senility, he becomes paranoid that she may be tricking him for wrongs from his past. In his mind, this would provide a way out to her former self, if only he could convince her to discontinue the charade. This desperation for a bitter solution over no solution is tragic.
Pinsent is absolutely heartbreaking as the husband who only wants his wife to remember the love they shared. His continued dedication to her despite her removed tolerance tears apart his former bad boy self, as his years as a wayward professor are some of the last memories she recalled. His earnest affection is magnified by the guilt that is echoed in his actions, and he aches for redemption.
Christie is soft and adoring as the woman who, within such a short period of time, releases her husband from the burden of her care and then is sweetly indulgent of the stranger before her. A hallway filled with bright, natural light acknowledges diluted memories; every time Grant walks down it towards home, Fiona loses a little more of their history. As dementia sets in, confusion crawls across her face as she visibly searches her mind for a name or memory, and panic hits when she cannot locate it. The realization is so subtle, and yet all drama can be found in her eyes, making her words all the more powerful.
Polley guides a touching film about unrequited love. Though the heart is willing, the mind is imprisoned by an atrophied brain.