Away from Her (2006)

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 wheelchair-bound mute who also is a patient at the nursing home.

Director:

Sarah Polley

Writers:

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

Stars:

Gordon Pinsent, Stacey LaBerge, Julie Christie

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 42 wins & 18 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

Grant and Fiona Anderson have been married for forty-four years. Their marriage has been a generally happy and loving one although not perfect due to some indiscretions when Grant was working as a college professor. Fiona has just been admitted to Meadowlake, a long term care facility near their country home in southwestern Ontario, because her recent lapses of memory have been diagnosed as a probable case of Alzheimer's disease. She and Grant made this decision together, although a still lucid Fiona seems to have made peace with the decision and her diagnosis more so than Grant. With respect to the facility, what Grant has the most difficulty with are what he sees as the sadness associated with the facility's second floor - where the more advanced cases are housed - but most specifically the facility's policy of no visitors within the first thirty days of admission to allow the patient to adjust more easily to their new life there. Based on what he sees when he is finally able to ...

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Plot Keywords:

nursing home | alzheimer's disease | time | marriage | memory | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Official Sites:

La Fabrique de Films [fr] Lionsgate [us]

Country:

Canada UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 April 2007 (UK)

Also Known As:

Lejos de ella

Filming Locations:

Freeport Health Centre, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

CAD 4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$53,267 (USA) (4 May 2007)

Gross:

$15,830,046 (USA) (13 July 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film Farm, The, Foundry Films, Capri Releasing

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Writer-director Sarah Polley had intended her feature film debut to be based on a script she wrote about a 12-year-old actress starring on a television series. She was unable to get the project green lighted, and turned to another, an adaptation of one of her favorite short stories, Alice Munro's "The Bear Came Over the Mountain". The story deals with a couple in their Sixties coping with the wife's Alzheimer's disease.

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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, even when they are most terrified. Those in love cannot make up their minds to go or stay. Artist and doctor return most often. Only the mad will never, never come back. For ...

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Connections

Featured in 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2008)

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Soundtracks

"Harvest Moon"
Performed by Neil Young
Written by Neil Young
Silver Fiddle Music (ASCAP)
Licensed courtesy of Warner Music Canada
Used by permission
All rights reserved

User Reviews

Away From Julie Christie

The fact that Fiona - the "her" from the title - is played by Julie Christie makes the painful journey crystal clear. Julie Christie is a wonder. She manages for us,without sentimentality but with an intelligence that makes the point of the story profoundly human, to get close to the illness with sadness yes but without fear. Alzheimer's disease is like a dark tunnel that the afflicted enter without wanting to, without being able to avoid it. I've wondered what was like to be aware of it, I mean, to know that sooner rather than later you will forget everything and everyone. Sarah Polley, the director, works a little miracle here giving us Julie Christie to answer that question. I felt enormously close to Fiona's husband - a wonderful performance by Gordon Pinsent - and came out of the experience uplifted rather than depressed.