Away From Her

Julie Christie is grace incarnate as Fiona, a woman in the grip of Alzheimer's ("I think I may be beginning to disappear," she says with a sad smile), in the directorial debut of Canadian actress Sarah Polley. The film is a model of dignity, even during the degeneration of Christie's faculties. Gordon Pinsent plays Grant, and watches with the adoring eyes of a man who has fallen in love with his wife over again as their life together is lost in the haze of forgotten memories. Polley creates a film of moods and tones and pools of feeling, full of moving moments in an almost too pretty portrait of human deterioration, all photographed through a lens as forgiving and idealizing as Grant's adoring gaze. Yet beneath the placid surface are hints of Fiona's subconscious struggling to keep lost memories suppressed while Grant confronts the guilt of his past betrayals. It gives "Away From Her" a powerful poignancy and a hushed, devastating beauty. Adapted from the short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" by Alice Munro, it also stars Olympia Dukakis and Michael Murphy. Features commentary by Christie and deleted scenes with commentary by Polley.