AWAY FROM HER [PG-13]
Still looking as lovely at ever at age 66, Julie Christie is heartbreaking as Fiona, a woman afflicted with early onset Alzheimer’s. First-time writer-director Sarah Polley shows a surprising level of maturity in depicting the tragic struggle faced by Fiona and her husband, Grant (Gordon Pinsent). Polley, working from fellow Canuck Alice Munro’s short story, “The Bear Came Over The Mountain,” blends nicely the story of Fiona and Grant with that of Marion (Olympia Dukakis) and Aubrey (Michael Murphy), another couple facing a similar life change. Pinsent (The Good Shepherd) is a wonderful old bear, and he and Christie play off each other like they actually have been married for 44 years. Emotionally cleansing and tremendously sensitive, Polley’s reflection on the nature of love is the kind of teary, stack-of-napkins treat that we don’t necessarily seek out, but are happy to have discovered. –Robert Newton