Away from Her (2006)

Director:

Sarah Polley

Writers:

Sarah Polley (written by)
Alice Munro (short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain")

Release Date:

27 April 2007 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

It's never too late to become what you might have been

Plot:

A man coping with the institutionalization of his wife because of Alzheimer's disease faces an epiphany when she transfers her affections to another man, Aubrey, a wheel chair-bound mute who also is a patient at the nursing home.

Plot Keywords:

Alzheimer's Disease | Reading | Courtship | Telephone Call | Writer Director

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 39 wins & 15 nominations

Cast

Gordon Pinsent	...	Grant Anderson
Stacey LaBerge	...	Young Fiona
Julie Christie	...	Fiona Anderson
Olympia Dukakis	...	Marian
Deanna Dezmari	...	Veronica
Clare Coulter	...	Phoebe Hart
Thomas Hauff	...	William Hart
Alberta Watson	...	Dr. Fischer
Grace Lynn Kung	...	Nurse Betty
Lili Francks	...	Theresa
Andrew Moodie	...	Liam
Wendy Crewson	...	Madeleine Montpellier
Judy Sinclair	...	Mrs. Albright
Tom Harvey	...	Michael
Carolyn Hetherington	...	Eliza

Also Known As:

Lejos de ella (Argentina) (Mexico) [es]
Loin d'elle (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]
An ihrer Seite (Germany) [de]
Egyre távolabb (Hungary) [hu]
Longe Dela (Brazil) [pt]
Ysterografo mias Shesis, To (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:6 | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Brazil:12 | Argentina:13 | Germany:o.Al. | South Korea:12 | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Singapore:PG | USA:PG-13 | UK:12A | Canada:G (Québec)

Filming Locations:

Freeport Health Centre, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Film Farm, The

Trivia:

'Sarah Polley' adapted the short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" specifically for Julie Christie.

Quotes:

Grant Anderson: [reading to Fiona from, "Letters From Iceland" by; W.H. Auden] Isn't it true however far we've wandered into our provinces of persecution, where our regrets accuse, we keep returning back to the common faith from which we've all dissented, back to the hands, the feet, the faces? Children are always there and take the hands...

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Missing You

Film of the Young Year

When it comes to "Away from Her," the overused, abused adjective cannot be avoided: it is a great film.

Sarah Polley's film grips, holds, moves, thrills; you will think and talk about it, remember the story and the characters indefinitely - which could well serve as a dictionary definition of "great film." All this from a 27-year-old first-time director!

You will see advertising and hear talk about "the one with Julie Christie having Alzheimer's," but that describes "Away from Her" no better than saying "Hamlet" is about a man who cannot make up his mind. Yes, Fiona, Christie's character, is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's, but the actress - as beautiful as ever and in her greatest role here - creates a complex, full figure, with good moments and bad ones, with intelligence, warmth, carrying regrets and hurts with grace. The outstanding Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent is Grant, Fiona's loving husband for long, rich decades, albeit with their share of problems.

As the story unfolds, Grant and Fiona face the obvious, the inevitable, but for the audience, there is nothing obvious or inevitable about the way things happen. Polley's writing is Stoppardian in its complexity and brilliance - there is nothing predigested and Hollywoodish here, only life and people as infinitely complex as the human brain. Even as it deteriorates, the brain - and the film about this tragic process - retains its surprises and wonders, and to the very last scene of "Away from Her," you cannot sit back and assume you know what will happen. You don't; the film's unpredictability is one of its great assets.

Add to Polley's script (based on Alice Munro's "The Bear Came Over the Mountain") and direction, to Christie's and Pinsent's magnificent individual and ensemble acting, a cast to treasure. Olympia Dukakis and Michael Murphy play a couple whose lives unexpectedly intertwine with Grant and Fiona's. Kristen Thomson steals whole scenes from the principals as the head nurse at the institution where Fiona is placed; warm, supportive, nurturing and altogether wonderful, the nurse has one quick exchange in which she shows another side and another attitude - and this slight "glitch" makes the character even more real and sympathetic.

"Away from Her" is not a tragedy, it's a drama, which moves and uplifts. It includes charming and funny moments, but even the humor has depth. In one scene, as she is watching TV news from Iraq, Alzheimer's patient Fiona exclaims: "How could they forget Vietnam?!"