Away from Her

Away from Her ***

Directed by Sarah Polley
Written by Sarah Polley

Starring:

Julie Christie as Fiona

Gordon Pinsent as Grant

Olympia Dukakis as Marian

Michael Murphy as Aubrey

Kristen Thomson as Kristy

Wendy Crewson as Madeleine

110 Minutes(Rated PG-13 for some strong language).

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"Away from Her" is a tender and affectionate directing debut for Sarah Polley, whose directing style matches her graceful and tender acting abilities. About a year ago I saw a film called "Boynton Beach Club" and I admired how that film did not shy away from putting elderly people as central characters, and showing them doing things that you would not normally see in a mainstream Hollywood film. "Away from Her" does something similar, but it clearly tells a better story than the latter film. Polley used Alice Munro's short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" as the foundation for her film about eternal love, disease, and a marriage that can never really die even if the odds are that it will. Polley has done something with her movie that is extremely rare-she actually seems to care about her characters-what they do, how they feel, their actions-and she managed to tell a story so sweet and sad-a tragedy of mood and love-that is a pleasure to watch.

"Away from Her" introduces us to the lives of Grant and Fiona, married 44 years and living in a cabin in Canada where they can ski and enjoy the golden years of life. This is disrupted when Fiona begins to forget things, and it becomes hinted that she is suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. Grant does his best to try and help Fiona at home-labeling things around the house, reading to her often, etc. However she is slipping further and further away, and they agree to bring her to a home. Grant is reluctant, especially when he learns that once admitted he cannot see his wife for thirty days after, just so that she could settle in a bit. But he does, and when he returns to see her on the thirty-first day he is disturbed by the fact that she doesn't remember him, and even more disturbed by the fact that she has made very close friends with Aubrey, another resident that apparently knew Fiona many years ago. Grant visits everyday and does his best to try and get Fiona to remember again, but continues to get his heart broken always.

There are a lot of things going on here. On one side it is the story of an eternal love-Grant and Fiona are the kind of couple that clearly cannot live without one another, not really. And Gordon Pinsent plays Grant with a silent tragic tone. He never succumbs to his feelings on his face, but we know what he is feeling. And then it is the story of a man that is clearly trying to atone for whatever he did wrong in the past. We never get to really learn an incredible amount about their past together, but it is hinted that Grant did something to Fiona once-and I could only assume that he had an affair. And now in his later years, when he wants to make amends, he feels that he had a part in it. That he had so much time to love his wife when she had her health in the past, but now he will never be able to live in that way anymore. And this is where the tragedy of "Away with Her" comes into focus-a rather hopeless love story. And even though it ends at a happy time, it is clear that Grant's heartbreak has only just begun.

Polley assembled a great cast for this film, and while Pinsent, who is extraordinary here, is in almost every scene and is easily the main character, Julie Christie wows you with her innocent performance. Pinsent may be in every scene physical, Christie is in every scene figuratively, and if her physical presence is not there you know that she is there in spirit, and in Grant's mind. She doesn't really know that she is sick, or who she is, or much of her past except for a few little thing, and as you watch her fall in love with another man it is like she is falling in love for the first time. If this was released sometime closer to the end of the year she would definetely be on the list for Best Actress at the Oscars, but maybe it will carry over until then. There is also decent supporting work by Olympia Dukakis in a small role as Aubrey's wife, but she has never really floored me in the past-especially after some awful work in "In the Land of Women." Polley's direction makes her seem like a directing vet, and her screenplay shows compassion and affection for every single character her. This is a real gem-well acted and directed, and one of the more tender films I've seen in a long while.