Away from Her features some fine, achingly accurate portrayals by Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent. For three-quarters of the movie, I was alternatively riveted and in tears. My family has thankfully escaped Alzheimer's, but my mother is elderly and has a number of friends who have fallen victim to it. This is a disease that devastates the care givers as much as the patients, and Away from Her tries to give equal time to both.
My main problem with the film was that instead of staying on plot, it veered off into unnecessary directions. Olympia Dukakis was miscast, and her decision to act as sole caregiver to her husband, without any outside help, seemed a stretch. A patient in her husband's condition not only would belong in a nursing home, most likely on the second floor as it's called in the movie, but she would at very least need a day nurse. That aside, the photography is beautiful, Julie and Gordon are worth seeing, and it was an effort to tackle a difficult subject.
My main problem with the film was that instead of staying on plot, it veered off into unnecessary directions. Olympia Dukakis was miscast, and her decision to act as sole caregiver to her husband, without any outside help, seemed a stretch. A patient in her husband's condition not only would belong in a nursing home, most likely on the second floor as it's called in the movie, but she would at very least need a day nurse. That aside, the photography is beautiful, Julie and Gordon are worth seeing, and it was an effort to tackle a difficult subject.