A well told tale and promising directorial debut for the remake of Dawn of the Dead's Sarah Polley.

A meditation on the ultimate meaning of love in long term relationships (eg: give and take, don't ask/don't tell, silence, humor, patience, etc.).

The actors are (naturally) old pros in the skins of Gordon Pinset, Julie Christie, and Olympia Dukakis. The story is a suitably time-shifting structure that reveals it's charms in a most seductive manner.

This is a movie that will speak to those who have glimpsed the finish line and wish to cross it with grace...

6 out of 5.

A beautiful, sad, well-made drama about loss, with a little added depth due to my grandfather being in the early stages of Alzheimer's himself . Pinset and Christie are marvelous, giving probably the best performances I've seen in this young year.

***.5/****

What a beautiful film! It was heartbreaking. I'll admit that after twenty minutes I was tempted to turn it off because I just couldn't get into it, but thankfully I didn't because very soon after it kept getting better and better. Gordon Pinsent gives a great performance, as does Julie Christie. The score music was wonderful and reminiscent of Brokeback Mountain in its effectiveness.

I can't imagine it having much rewatch value, but I will still definitely purchase it someday. I'm surprised Sarah Polley wrote and directed this. I didn't know she had it in her. Well done! I sure hope it's remembered come award season.

8/10 (A-)

B+/B

The first 20-30 minutes are absolutely perfect. The ski-trip, the wine bottle, the dialogues between Christie and Pinsent, the introduction of the nursing home and the decision to go to go there, the car ride, the cinematography and direction, I was sure I was heading for yet another solid A film.

But naturally, it didn't hold up... Once it gets into the whole Aubrey/Veronica/Marion relationship soap triangles business, it just kind of crums itself out. It's as if Polley didn't know how to fill up her film once Christie gets in the home, so she created these relationship subplots, which don't really add anything to the movie, as well as take up the last hour and a half of the movie, sputtering. It also ends on quite a whimper.

I still give it credit for the acting, writing, direction, and overall points of the film. Polley said what she wanted to say about the nature of loss and treasuring your moments, and got the right emotional touch of the characters. Pinsent's character was intriguing. It's well-made enough to give it a solid grade on that merit alone, though part of me wants to go lower than that.

I think Polley's got a bright future. This is a decent start, if not anything more.

I'll agree with Shack. Julie Christie is beyond excellent in this and if the Oscars have any credibility, she will be nominated without a problem. Gordon Pinsent also deserves some recognition, and Olympia Dukakis is solid in her small role. It's such a sad film, not surprising considering the material, but it really broke my heart. The one scene in particular that stand out at the moment is when they are saying goodbye to each other in the nursing home. So heartbreaking.

A-

Poignant, brilliantly acted and with an ambiguous tone that fits perfectly with the illness itself, "Away From Her" deserves all the praise it got a few months ago. Unlike others, I liked all the subplots here (even the small anti-war comment which many could have thought it was a little bit out of place) - they added another texture the movie wouldn't have had, like when you read a book and you sort of get lost in that world. And besides, it was crutial for the resolution, right?


I'm really hoping to see Sarah Polly, Julie Christie, Gordon Pinsent (and perhaps Olympia Dukakis?) appearing in the awards race.


A- for a first viewing, and a spot in my top 10 of the year garanteed.

Polley, Pinsent, Dukakis and Christie all deserve recognition for the work in the film. Sadly only Polley and Christie stand a chance probably (but great for Polley if does happen!!)

The final scene is kinda...really sad. Bittersweet. It takes a while to sink in but once it does...

A-

Gordon Pinsent is the voice of Babar??? LOL cute.

Well, the place to start would have to be Christie. I think A.O. Scott does a pretty good job at summarizing...

She's unbelievably beautiful in all senses of the word. I haven't seen her in anything before, but am now a huge fan. I really hope she doesn't lose the Oscar to Page.
Gordon Pinsent is ruggedly perfect, and Olympia Dukakis is great as usual. Polley is the most impressive new director I've seen all year...she was just incredibly tasteful and wise. There were so many places for this movie to have gone treacly, but she avoided them all.
She, Pinsent and Christie earn every tear you'll shed. In my Top 10 of 2007. My only qualm was that the director of the Alzheimer's home was too overtly one-dimensional (the part more than the actress; she was fine) , which took away some of the emotion in scenes she was in.

A-

What an elegant, well-acted take on things.


Makes me sort of not happy, though. Depressing much?

Yes a bit of a downer.

So now I hope all of you will go and vote for this film at the KJ Movie Awards. Especially for director Sarah Polley Still think the final scene in the film was absolutely perfect.

So, I'm finally seeing it on Saturday.

The film has some beautiful moments, but I actually found the direction to be kind of lacking.

Something about it felt very TV-movie to me. The cinematography, maybe. I remember the lighting being really stark (it's been a while since I saw it). The cuts to the past (the shots of young Fiona, the shots of Iceland, etc.) also felt amateurish to me.

I also agree with Shack that the love triangle is out-of-place and awkwardly handled, if not appropriate.

It gets a B from me for its frequent moments of poignancy, though. And I'm going to have to agree that while I liked Julie Christie, I was moved by Gordon Pinsent, who's been unfairly ignored by the awards circuit this season.

I don't even think there's such a thing as a love triangle in the movie. Marion is a lonely, somewhat bitter woman who happens to be in a tough financial situation. By sleeping with her and having her move in with him, Grant becomes a sort of companion to Marion and Marion is able to sell the house and put Aubrey back in the nursing home. As grant points out, "people do get lonely." To call it a love triangle or a love affair is to suggest that love and sex go hand in hand. At one point Fiona mentions that in spite of all the affairs Grant had 20 years prior, he never left her. It is a complex relationship full of bumps along the road, but they do love each other. And it's evident that none of the affairs Grant had meant the same thing as Fiona. Similarly, there is no love involved between Marion and Grant, and even Marion realizes this. It is a sort of arrangement. He thinks having Aubrey back in the nursing home is what is best for Fiona. It's not an easy decision and one probably reached at least in part due to guilt.

I do think Pinsent was excellent at portraying loneliness and regret and finally coming to terms with his wife's illness. Definitely Oscar worthy, so it's a shame it's being completely ignored. Though, that should not take away from the brilliance of Christie's performance who is just as good.

I was referring more to the Aubrey-Fiona thing.

I could actually understand the Aubrey-Fiona well and don't really consider it a subplot since it tied 4 people together. I actually knew the story was going there once Fiona moved in since it's an example that most easily demonstrates what could happen when one starts losing memories. It's a reason I felt the story wasn't all that original.

However, the film is an acting showcase for sure, something one could see just 30 minutes in. Julie Christie certainly deserves all the accolades she has been getting. Along with Tang Wei, they have the two best female performances I've seen for 2007. And I'm surprised that Gordon Pinsent isn't getting any mentions at all award-wise. I know everybody is getting overshadowed by DDL, and the competitions are very tough this year, but I'd think he should have gotten some nominations.

B-


Eh, I don't know. I don't have much love for this film. Yes, it is a delicate subject matters which was handled really surprisingly well given the age of the director, so kudos to Polley here, even though her directional work here is not anything special, in my opinion. It's just that it certainly seems very mature. Didn't expect that. The film itself is a mixed back. There are some moments that I found to be genuinely heartfelt, emotional and sad without getting too sentimental. But the "relationship" between Gordon Pinset's and Olympia Dukakis' characters really seemed forced and out of place, as if Grant is trying to get back at his wife. I know that's not the case, but that's how it comes across to me a bit.

Another thing is that I found Julie Christie's acting here to be completely and outrageously overrated. I mean she's good and all, but certanly doesn't deserve sweeping all the awards. It's mostly because she's a veteran actress who plays an Alzheimer patient. She has some good moments, but most of the time she just stares into emptiness and that's it. However, as far as the debate about her being a leading or a supporting character, I'd definitely say she's a clear lead here. Very overrated performance, though.

Gordon Pinset, on the other hand, is quite underrated. I really would have liked to read more mentions for him as he delivers a really fragile and desperate portrayal of his character, while remaining very subtle for most of the time.

The flashbacks shot in grainy style seemed unnecessary to me (maybe except for the very last shot in the film) and the whole thing with Aubrey and Fiona didn't work as well as I hoped to. The very ending seemed rather predictable to me, knowing how Alzheimer works an all. I still liked it.

It's not a bad movie by any means, it is actuially a bit above average, but I really wish the whole film had captured the relationship between Grant and Fiona as wel as some scenes scattered throughout the film did.l There was more potential here and Polley seemed as competent enough of a direction to live up to it. The screenplay needed work, though.

It's mostly very poignant and very touching, and this is achieved almost entirely due to the contrast between Christie's showy, vibrant performance and Pinsent's subtle, layered turn. Both are great, but I think Pinsent is more impressive because it seems like a harder role to pull off. Polley's direction is admirably restrained, and she mostly refrains from any overly manipulative stuff (the one thing that really stuck out, though, was Pinsent's conversation with the teen - way too forced and awkward) which is refreshing. The story is fairly light, and thus the relationship drama that is introduced doesn't feel natural, even if it makes sense in context. Still, I wasn't a fan of the last act.

It was touching. But not sure it's an amazing movie. I have to watch My Vie en Rose next, but while Christie is good, I wasn't completely blown away by her performance.

B

A-

Great film. One of the best of 2007. I had a grandma who died from the disease, and Polley is very thorough and Christie is disturbingly pitch perfect.

To answer to some of the criticisms.

I did not think the relationship between Marion and Grant was forced. I don't think you can classify what they have together as "relationship" based, nor friendship. it's an understanding and the need to have an attachment or outlet for the frustration they have in becoming irrelevant in their lovers lives. Marion and Grant could never love each other, but they could be there for each other.

I don't think Christie's performance is overrated either. Alzhiemer's is exactly what is portrayed in the film. She isn't just staring, she's struggling to comprehend what is happening to her.

Uh, Lecter, have you known someone - say, a mother or a close aunt or grandmother - that has had the disease? I watched my grandmother die with it over the course of the past ten years and Christie hit every note. Fucking aces. It's not as easy as it looks - it's as subtle and authentic and quietly heartbreaking as it needs to be. It was the performance of the year.

By far, as much as I loved Marion Cotillard as well.

She was especially great in the firs half of the film where she was required to be aware on second, gone the next in many scenes. Unfortunately the more I think about it, the more depressing I find the film. It's definitely not something you want to see again and again.

Funny since as a matter of fact, I have. Two people actually (one much closer than the other, though).

Burn...

It was an acting vehicle, no doubt.... and it was all very well done, kudos to the cast.

It was just so far removed from my own experience of alzheimer's, which is far darker and more violent than the graceful descent portrayed in the film, that it almost felt dumbed down. I think this is a case of personal experience getting in the way of viewing a film so i don't think i'm going to grade it.