Movie Review: Away From Her

The little girl from The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Sarah Polley is all grown up and has written and directed a film about the affects of Alzheimer’s disease. Based on a short story by Alice Munro, Away from Her follows Fiona and Grant Anderson as they cope with her progressing memory loss and her admittance into a nursing home.

The progression of the story is not at all what I was expecting. Thankfully, none of the events leading up to her decision to move to a home were sensationalized, nothing particularly dangerous and no huge arguments between this couple that have been married for 44 years. Fiona realized what was happening to her and wanted to move to a home. Grant was the one that couldn't bear to see her go; particularly with the home's policy of not allowing visitors for the first 30 days. But then the bulk of the film takes place after that, when he visits her and the unexpected turns she takes.

The story structure forces the audience to be confused at points, obviously to relate to the Alzheimer's. The beginning of the film has some flash forward moments that are a bit mysterious but ultimately serve to break up some story elements from the latter part of the film from being too concentrated. Also when Fiona talks a bit about their past, you're not sure if it's true or not until later scenes when Grant confirms it.

There are a few unexpected funny moments, usually involving another patient who's a former hockey play-by-play announcer who now announces his daily life in the home. They are not overdone and when he passes Grant in the hallway and says "this man's heart is breaking into a million pieces" you're laughing and crying at the same time.

The film is very and a poignant love story, however the ending is ambiguous. It's not clear if the final situation is temporary or permanent, what happens with two of the characters, and as such it's not clear what the motivations are (yes I'm being deliberately vague). Maybe that's also modeled after real life, but I wanted it a little clearer.