Away fron Her ( Sarah Polley, 2006): Canada

Sarah Polley’s directorial debut Away from Her is the spellbinding incandescent story of the trials, tests and the inexplicable wonder of love. Based on the short story, “The Bear Came over the Mountain,” by Alice Munro, this is a poignant love story which manages to twist torture and provoke the viewer into a deeper understanding of the many nuances of love. The story is about a couple, Fiona (Julie Christie) and Grant (Gordon Pinset) who have been married for 45 years. In their golden years the couple has reached that quite stage of fulfillment. Past transgressions have been forgiven (but not forgotten) and their days are spent cross-country skiing near their lake house in rural Canada. The film opens with a luminous deep focus shot of the couple cross country skiing. This image is repeated through out the film and becomes a metaphor for the deeper subtext of the film. After all cross-country skiing is about endurance. It’s about going the distance and accepting the bumps and set -backs a long the way. At one point in the film Grant muses that the passions of youth seem “superficial” when compared to the deeper emotions that come from a life shared together (for better or worse).

Julie Christie recently won the Golden Globe and has received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her luminous portrayal of Fiona, a woman suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Polley’s direction is both languorous and economical. Bit by bit Fiona begins to loose her memory at one point she declares, “I think I am beginning to disappear.” Polley wrote the role of Fiona specifically for Christie. She had this to say about casting Christie: “You’re always chasing her because she’s with you one second and not the next, and that was exactly my experience of Fiona in the short story.” Much like memory itself the character of Fiona moves swiftly in and out of the present. The role of Alzheimer’s in the film becomes a metaphor for how memory plays out in long term relationships: what we choose to remember, what we chose to forget. As Oscar Wild pointed out memory is highly selective, and this observation is played out with painstaking honesty in Fiona. She can’t quite remember where to put that frying pan, but she has not forgotten about Grant’s earlier indiscretions during his days as a professor. All those adoring eyes were hard to resist. Like sharp chards of crystal the character’s memories are the thematic thread that ties the fractured narrative of Away from Her together.

Eventually the inevitable truth has to be accepted as Fiona reads from a book, “Ultimately, most patients will need complete care, adding to the care givers burden.” Not wanting to become a burden Fiona stoically checks herself into Meadow wood, a facility for adults with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. “It will be like staying in a hotel, “she says with conviction. Visually Polley contrasts the security of the couple’s snow-covered existence with the icy sterility of Meadow wood with its narrow halls and banal décor. Away from Her sensitively portrays the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease on its victims, but also on the love ones that are left behind and often forgotten. When Grant returns to visit Fiona after a thirty day “adjustment period” he is met with vague recognition from Fiona. To make matters worse she has transferred her affections to a mute wheelchair bound artist named Aubrey (Michael Murphy). But Grant keeps showing up day after insidious day. Fiona remarks, “You are persistent” as if he were an amusing diversion and not her husband of 45 years.

The film owes a debt of gratitude to the subtle and deeply nuanced performance of Gordon Pinset, whose performance grounds the film. Polley’s use of formal devises such as voice -over narration and flashback sequences give the film a lyrical poetic quality. Viewer identification is established through richly lyrical narration. In one scene the viewer watches Grant alone in the cottage he once shared with Fiona. Pinset’s placid gaze and robust, tobacco- stained voice tell the viewer: “Alzheimer’s disease causes the progressive death of the nerve cells in the cerebral hemispheres of the brain. Every day millions of neurons are dying.” Only a master actor could transcend the colorless dialogue with the piercing pain of loneliness as the lights of the cottage slowly dim. Rarely is a film filled with such finely tuned performances that each one deserves honorable mention. Olympia Dukakis plays Marion (the wife of Aubrey) her portrayal of a women “who has quit quitting” is wry and tender. Struggling with the decision to keep her husband at an institution or risk loosing her home (which is filled with its own memories) or care for her husband and endure successively hellish days.

To reveal the film’s ending would be to say too much, except that Away form Her is a deeply poignant and haunting film that stays with the viewer long after the final cut. It’s about love, loneliness, betrayal, devotion and above all memories; inexplicable
haunting, captivating, precious memories.