ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

GazerRise Fantastic!

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

bandkstone I was very moved by this film. I thought the acting was excellent. I am mystified that so many people think it was disappointing because it was not "realistic."It's a STORY people. Guessing the same people who love Spiderman can suspend their disbelief.

grantss Emotional, painful, frustrating journey.The story of a woman who is put in a home after she develops Alzheimer's Disease, how her and her husband cope with with this, and how their relationship is affected.Very sensitively told, making for a very emotional movie. Maybe too sensitively done: the film moves incredibly slowly. Every scene is drawn out to breaking point. Plus there are some incredibly frustrating turns of events, which add to the irritation.However, the level of engagement with the characters is high enough for you to sit through it all. It's not a perfect movie, far from it - for the reasons mentioned above and the lack of a punchy or profound ending - but is watchable and endurable.

l_rawjalaurence The debut feature from talented Canadian director Sarah Polley, AWAY FROM HER is a love-story set in a care home involving Fiona Anderson (Julie Christie) and Aubrey (Michael Murphy). The plot unfolds slowly, but then Polley is very much preoccupied with the mise-en-scene. The action takes place during midwinter in the frozen wastes of Canada: the snow on the ground and the crisp winter air offer a fitting metaphor for the state of the Andersons' marriage as Fiona's husband Grant (Gordon Pinsent) comes to the realization that his wife will no longer be living full-time at home, and that their relationship is effectively over. He has little to look forward to except a cold, bleak existence alone, with only occasional visits to see his wife in the care-home.Polley is exceptionally good at capturing Fiona's gradual discovery that she has Alzheimer's. From the sequence where she puts a frying-pan into the refrigerator, to the sequence on a winter's night where she stands alone on a bridge shivering to death, we understand how her grasp of the world around her is gradually receding. Grant desperately tries to convince himself (and her) that this is a temporary condition, but Fiona herself knows precisely what is happening to her. Christie gives us a portrayal of a strong-minded woman aware of life's realities, however unpleasant they might be.The atmosphere at the care home is stunningly re-created, from the pristine walls of the corridors to the impersonal dining-room, where the residents sit quietly chatting to one another under the eyes of the staff. Madeleine Montpellier (Wendy Crewson) is the very epitome of efficiency in her black two-piece suit, giving prospective residents a guided tour of the facility while pointing out the fact that the corridors attract plenty of "natural light." The implication is clear: much of life in the facility is "unnatural" for the residents, the majority of whom simply pass away the time in miscellaneous activities, aided by artificially bright staff trying their best to make everything seem wonderful. The residents' impassive faces sum up their lives; Polley's camera captures the emptiness of their lives through slow pans of their common-rooms.In this kind of environment, any prospect of a love-affair between two residents must be applauded. However much Grant might resent his spouse's action, he cannot blame her for it. The surprise ending catches all of us by surprise, yet seems somehow right in terms of the film's earlier logic.AWAY FROM HER is a sympathetic yet uncompromising portrait of people trying to cope with Alzheimer's, that should serve as an example to us all.

kgroneman-250-698012 This film could have deserved the high ratings it has received, but I think those ratings are based on the emotional factor of this film which, I agree, is high, hence my giving it 5 stars. However, there are several things lacking in this movie which took away the other 5 stars. Some things are just too unrealistic:There seems to be no friends or family of the main characters * The head nurse seems to have all the time in the world and never seems to be doing anything * The husband doesn't call police or even seem upset when his wife takes off on skis and goes missing. * There are no family pictures or music or any effort at all to remind the wife of who she is. The husband is totally unhelpful in this regard. Once he grabs her by the shoulders and tells her who he is, but otherwise is just too calm and too removed.If they would have added some elements of realism to this scenario, it would have been a lovely movie.