In Continuum.

I am going to be completely honest here. When I first saw the trailer for the film Away From Her, the only thing that got me interested was the fact that the trailer used the song Be Here Now by Ray Lamontagne, and I wasn't even sure what the film was about from the trailer itself. You would expect a trailer to give you some sort of idea concerning the context of the story, but it certainly wasn't the case for the trailer of this film. Arguably, this trailer was pretty misleading in a way that it might give people an impression that it is about an old couple growing away from each other and then trying to cope with their old age. Well, this film is about those, and not about those at the very same time. It has a larger density to it, and it certainly isn't just your everyday walk in the park, the kind of movie you'd want to watch at the end of the day with your loved ones. It's not nearly as depressing as, say, 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days, which I have also watched tonight. Still, this film presented a sort of sadness in hope, or a kind of hope in sadness. Either way, I am a sucker for sad hope, and this movie is the epitome of both that, and utter brilliance.

Fiona (Julie Christie) and Grant (Gordon Pinsent) have been married to each other for 44 years, after Fiona thought it to be a good idea for them to get married while they were eighteen years old. They go on cross-country skiing trips together, spending time just cuddling at home for the most part, and enjoying the beautiful snowy scenery outside their windows as they read a book together in the late afternoon. It looks like a perfect picture for anybody's retirement, but that perfect dream ended when Fiona was diagnosed with a condition. It began with Fiona putting a washed frying pan in the freezer, forgetting where to put the kitchen utensils and not knowing where to post a letter or her own address. It was when she got lost in the snowy wilderness one day when Grant decided that it was time for him to take her to a care facility called Meadowlake, a clean and comfortable retirement home of sorts for patients with the similar condition known as Alzheimer's. For the first 30 days, Grant was not allowed to visit Fiona, in an effort to allow her to settle in better. But the 30 days apart proved to be detrimental to their relationship, as Grant later discovers that Fiona has fallen for a mute man named Aubrey in the same facility, losing her love and memories of Grant to the disease.

Alzheimer's is a disease that takes away your short term memories, then your long term memories as it gradually progresses. Eventually, it is going to take away your emotions and the characteristics that define you as who you are, and you are eventually going to die without having any memories of the past, or any emotional attachments to any remaining memories. They say that Alzheimer's is the only "major" terminal disease that takes a greater toll on the caregivers of the patients rather than the patients themselves, simply because of the kind of emotional turmoil one has to go through just to take care of patients like that. One day they might recognize you, while the other they might be cursing at you and treating you like an absolute stranger. But the patients are mostly oblivious to their disease, not knowing anything amiss in their actions. It's a sad and depressing disease, which may be why there aren't a lot of movies out there that have attempted this sensitive topic - until now. 

Away From Her is based on the book The Bear Came Over the Mountain by Alice Munro, and this film just feels like a book being read in under two hours -  a beautiful book at that. Debuting director Sarah Polly did a wonderful job in adapting this film onto the screen, and took minor liberties at the screenplay that did not dampen, but boosted the emotional involvement of the audience into the story line. This film is purely about character development, how a man deals with his wife's slow but sure diminishing of her memories and love for him, and how he copes with the inevitable changes in his life. Grant hasn't been the most faithful husband, but he has remained with Fiona for the most part of their 44 year marriage. In a way, Grant discovers himself through the illness that Fiona had, and questioned himself on his actions of the past, whether or not her condition now is merely a punishment of his misdeeds. Grant learns to tolerate, he learns to be patient, and he learns the importance of absolute self-sacrifice for the woman he loves dearly. 

Director Sarah Polley's eye on details in terms of the emotional aspects of the film is so spot on, that you cannot help but applause her efforts in the adaptation. Not a lot of directors out there can translate the struggles of various characters under the same circumstances the way she was able to in this movie, transcending not only the darker side of the disease but the lighter side of it as well. She dwells not on the disease, but rather on the impact it caused on the people around Fiona and how it changed them rather than her. Some might feel that the script might have been way too fabricated, that the words were felt to be too scripted or fake because most of them were taken entirely from the book. But to me, that is a part of the reason why the film touched me on a different level from most other movies I have seen. Such details and care went into each and every shot, and every single line spoken by the actors. It felt like the words in a book were jumping out onto the screen, and it was definitely a moving experience, on my part.

Julie Christie deserves an Oscar for this, especially after winning at the Golden Globes. Before this film, I doubted the claims that she would beat Marion Cotillard in the Oscar race. I mean, seriously. Marion Cotillard's portrayal of Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose was simply astounding. But Julie Christie provided such a subtle power in this film that she is definitely a power to be reckoned with. A raising of her eyebrows, a subtle curl at the end of her lips, that look in her eyes when Grant came through the door for the last time, and the way her sentences would end abruptly because she couldn't carry on, she's such an amazing actress that I am reduced to just describing the various scenes that blew me away, instead of using my already limited vocabulary. And Gordon Pinsent is probably one of the most under-rated actors of our time. I haven't seen a lot of his work before. In fact, I haven't seen any of his works before. Still, the reasons why I was deeply moved by this movie was because of him and his portrayal of a husband whose wife left inevitably, a man drowned in doubt and redemption of sorts. I enjoyed seeing the way he silently grieved for the loss of his wife to a mute man in the facility, and how he accepted it and moved on. His sacrifices, his blind devotion, and most of all his love for a wife he can never win back. 

The supporting cast certainly did a great job as well. I mean, here we have another Oscar winner (other than Julie Christie in 1965) Olympia Dukakis doing a fantastic job as the wife of Aubrey. This film reminded me of About Schmidt, and it is never more clearly shown in terms of the resemblances than the interaction between Olympia and Gordon's characters. Both movies explored how you can either feel frustrated and angry about something that has happened, or move on to greater things in life. They are both about old age and how they deal with it, and it certainly was a charming experience to see another movie being resonated in this one in terms of the theme.

I said that this movie is a sad film, but it is not exactly like a tragedy like Atonement is. Away From Her touches you in a sad and inevitable way, and like the character of Grant, we just have to accept the sadness and move on. This film is a tender and careful take at a topic that is both poignant and difficult to stomach. That is not to mention just how beautiful the film is to look at, both from a cinematic point of view as well as the performances from the actors. Definitely a movie that is going to reach the top of my favorites list, utterly marvelous. 

10/10