Away From Her (2006)

Considering the prevalence of Alzheimer’s in our modern world it is perhaps surprising that it has received relatively little attention in popular media. A major corrective to this is ‘Away From Her’ the definitive film portrait of the implications of this tragic disease on victim and loved ones alike. Fiona and Grant Anderson are a Canadian couple who have been married 44 years when the wife’s memory starts to go. Childless and still very much in love they are each others world, so when Fiona’s condition digresses to the point that she needs more care then her husband can provide, they make the difficult decision to commit her to an assisted living community. One of the policy’s of that community is to forbid new residents visits or phone calls during their first thirty days, so by the time Grant can see his wife again, she has only a vague understanding of who he is. To make matters harder on the old man, his wife develops an attachment to a fellow resident (Micheal Murphy) who is in need of constant care and becomes somewhat territorial over her.

A beautiful and heartbreaking film about love and loss and growing old, its achievement is rendered all the more remarkable in that it was directed and adapted by thirty year old Canadian actress and advocate Sarah Polly (honestly the last work of her’s I’d seen was a zombie movie). Julie Christie won a Golden Globe and got an Oscar nomination as the luminous Fiona, while Gordon Pinsent anchors the film with a soulful performance as Grant. Special notice also goes to the actress who plays the nurse. The first movie since ‘Warm Springs’ that so impressed me that I watched it again the very next day.