Away From Her

Certain subjects demand respect when rendered onto film. The interesting thing is that film is based on imagination and reevaluation of life, but subjects like historical wars or real catastrophes demand historical accuracy because the dead have to be respected, especially when the event has happened recently. The irony is that fictional stories about real situations can be criticized for any excessive amount of fabrication. The social and psychological elements of the subject are paramount to the story.

The everyday subject that gets the same consideration is disease and illness. The Notebook remained a sappy romance because it had illogical ideas about the nature of Alzheimers. Away From Her takes on the disease, but understands it cannot encompass the subject. Like war, no film can parlay all the information available. Away From Her succeeds because it is a personal story and is as much about the people near someone's struggle with Alzheimer's as it is about the person suffering from it. The story is about Grant, an elder aged man who has to deal with his of 50 years Fiona being placed in a healthcare center for Alzheimers. Knowing he has visitation rights, he believes life will be able go on as normal between them. The heart of the story is focused on how the disease takes over her and he has to get used to life as just a friendly stranger to her. The film is based on his daily visits to her and the casual catastrophe he has to witness as she lives a life away from him. A subtitle for the film could have been, "Letting Go".

The mininalism of the story and domination of the actors in all the scenes makes this film almost performance based. The well known and established Julie Christie plays Fiona. Christie, like her character, begins by exuding intelligence and beauty but widdles away as time goes on. The shock for her husband is the total loss of all her recognizable characteristics. It is the same for the audience because we know her as a movie star. The actress Sarah Polley is the first time director of the film. She understands camera movement to dramatize the story is unnecessary, but she is also a complacent director. Too many mundane shots carry through out the film of characters repeating casual actions, like getting in and out of cars. Minimalism means capturing the small moments of life, but not the most basic activities. If Polley continues on as a filmmaker she will develop in how to better place her camera and what parts of a scene are meaingful to show. I think she over explained a little bit in her coverage of scenes.