Away from Her (2006)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Sarah Polley

Writers:

Sarah Polley (written by)
Alice Munro (short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain")

Release Date:

27 April 2007 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

It's never too late to become what you might have been

Plot:

A man coping with the institutionalization of his wife because of Alzheimer's disease faces an epiphany when she transfers her affections to another man, Aubrey, a wheel chair-bound mute who also is a patient at the nursing home.

Plot Keywords:

Nursing Home | Alzheimer's Disease | Love | Lost | Time

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 39 wins & 15 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 11	10:05 AM	TMC
Thur. July 16	2:00 PM	TMC

Cast

Gordon Pinsent	...	Grant Anderson
Stacey LaBerge	...	Young Fiona
Julie Christie	...	Fiona Anderson
Olympia Dukakis	...	Marian
Deanna Dezmari	...	Veronica
Clare Coulter	...	Phoebe Hart
Thomas Hauff	...	William Hart
Alberta Watson	...	Dr. Fischer
Grace Lynn Kung	...	Nurse Betty
Lili Francks	...	Theresa
Andrew Moodie	...	Liam
Wendy Crewson	...	Madeleine Montpellier
Judy Sinclair	...	Mrs. Albright
Tom Harvey	...	Michael
Carolyn Hetherington	...	Eliza

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | USA:PG-13 | South Korea:12 | Netherlands:6 | Germany:o.Al. | UK:12A | Singapore:PG | Argentina:13 | Canada:G (Québec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) | Brazil:12 | Chile:TE

Filming Locations:

Freeport Health Centre, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Film Farm, The

Trivia:

'Sarah Polley' adapted the short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" specifically for Julie Christie.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Frank, the former hockey play-by-play man, is announcing the Philadelphia Flyers-Toronto Maple Leafs game that's playing on television, at the finish of the game he gives the name of the Flyers coach as "Phil" Hitchcock; the Flyers coach in 2003 (when this movie is set) is actually named Ken Hitchcock.

Quotes:

Grant Anderson: I never wanted to be away from her.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Prelude in C, from 'Das Wohltemperierte Clavier', Book One (BWV 846)

Remarkable debut by director Sarah Polley and yet another fascinating performance by Julie Christie

Julie Christie's combination of talent, beauty and brains has enthralled me over four decades. Nearly a decade ago, her Oscar nominated performance in "Afterglow" established that she was not a spent force while playing a gracefully aging wife of a handyman in the US. One thought that would be her best turn at geriatric impersonations.

Less than a decade later, Christie comes up with an even better performance of a woman coping with Alzheimer's disease in a debut directorial effort "Away from Her" of Canadian actress Sarah Polley. I saw the film today at the ongoing International Film Festival of Kerala, India, where Ms Christie, serving on the jury for the competition section, introduced her film thus: "It is immaterial whether you are rich or poor--we cannot predict what can happen to us. Enjoy the film with this thought." Ms Christie probably put in her best effort because the young director considers Ms Christie to be her "adoptive" mother, having worked together on three significant movie projects in five years. The film's subject brings memories of two similar films: Pierre Granier-Deferre' film "Le Chat" that won a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for both Jean Gabin and Simone Signoret in 1971 and Paul Mazursky's "Harry and Tonto" which won an Oscar for the lead actor Art Carney in 1974. This performance of Julie Christie ranks alongside those winners.

Today geriatric care is a growing problem. This film is a sensitive look at parting of married couples when one of them needs institutional care. Ms Polley's choice of the actor Gordon Pinsent is an intelligent one as the film relies on his narration and Mr Pinsent's deep voice provides the right measure of gravitas. Olympia Dukakis is another fine actor playing a lady who has "quit quitting". So is Michael Murphy doing a lengthy role without saying a word.

The strengths of the film are the subject, the direction, the performances and the seamless editing by the director's spouse. It is not a film that will attract young audiences who are insensitive. Yet the film has a evocative scene where a young teenager with several parts of her body pierced by rings is totally amazed by the devotion of the aging husband for his wife. So in a way the film reaches out to different age groups. Though it talks about sex, it can be safe family viewing material.

Chances are that most viewers will love the film if they are interested in films that are different from "the American films that get shown in multiplexes" to quote a character in the film. More importantly this film advertises the problem of Alzheimer's disease eloquently and artistically. It prepares you for future shocks.