Away From Her | Review

Masterclass in actors directing actors found in Polley’s directorial debut.

Alzheimers is like wiping out your computer’s hard drive – once the information is gone there is no hopes of retrieving anything back. Away From Her demonstrates that there is nothing worse than losing someone while physically they remain and sound the same. With a definite appeal to an older audience demographic, Sarah Polley’s feature-length debut is a touching portrait that avoids pushing buttons but while there is no sappiness there aren’t any strong emotional confrontations either.

It’s an unfair trade-off. One person is left devastated by the entire process while the other person is completely oblivious to it all. The characters of Fiona and Grant are richly portrayed by thesps Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent who give convincing performances through their exploring the negative air of change and the fracturing affects of hope. Based on a Alice Munro short story (The Bear Came Over the Mountain) that antes up the infidelity angle more than this film cares to, this explores the disease tragic beginning to tragic conclusion from disorientation to degradation to frustration and then finally, the acceptation stage. With a Canadiana touch and a circuit breaker analogy, the narrative turning point of the film comes after a 30 day embargo where husband and wife then become polite strangers, but it is the attachment that Christie’s character has for another person that makes the process that more painful.

As a diligent thesp herself, Polley gets the maximum from her actors and not only from the film’s leads but with the strength of the supporting characters. The two actresses who portray the care center physicians give off that sense of merriment but at the same time probably dread their work. Unlike another recent look into the disease with The Notebook, here flashbacks and flash-forwards steer clear of the cheese factor and perhaps is interested in a more respectful, enlightened, less romantic approach. Character-based and simply told, viewers will manage to feel empathy for the husband character but there is a lack of turmoil not explored on the screen. A dropping of the shovel sequence doesn’t really tap into emotional and mental break downs of such a given situation and while the ‘hanging on’ sentiment is well explored, it is the feeling of blame that is subtlety included but not emphasized that might make some audiences wonder why that the emotions come across like that of the frozen lake instead of Niagara Falls.

With more than decades of acting under her belt and having already directed two short films, Polley adapts and directs with confidence and hopefully on her next outing she’ll develop stylistically and thus outgrow simple shot/reverse-shot set-ups. As a model for an insightful and intelligent conversation piece on the disease, Lionsgate films’ Toronto film festival buy should find audiences based on the strength of Christie’s performance and on the film’s honest approach.

Festival du Nouveau Cinema 2006 – October 24th.

Rating 3 stars