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''I never wanted to be away from her.''
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.
Gordon Pinsent: Grant Anderson
Away From Her was slow moving, a snail's crawl if you will, and just a tad confusing via the chronological sequence and no instruction on how to follow, plus the fact it goes on far longer than is required.
That being said there is some powerful performances on display and honestly made Away From Her an experience for me.
''I think all we can aspire to in this situation is a little bit of grace.''
I was rather disturbed by the fact that audiences could be moved or romanticized by AFH, which features a couple who supposedly are meant to be madly in love, married for forty years but the husband has had an affair, and then moves on to sleep with another woman which is fine because his wife has Alzheimer's and has taken to another man of her own. There is nothing sweet or romantic about the film and in fact results in a more confusing and rather odd scenario. Rather than being about a man dealing with his wife's increasing Alzheimer's, it's about relationships between four strains of aging people thrown together because of the condition.
''It's never too late to become what you might have been.''
Some of the photography of AFH does single out the director's relative inexperience behind said camera, which is more than replaced by the slow pace, mood and uncommon sincerity of the film. Polley may be learning how to capture the essence of a story, she's definitely has a viewpoint and stance on how to tell one, as witnessed by the aforementioned chronological mix-up narrative drive accompanied by a somber and minimized score that maintains the level of emotion until the end credits.
One hopes the young lady will stay behind cameras alot longer, if only to challenge other filmmakers to follow her example.
Having said that, this isn't the kind of film one would expect an emerging young director to create – particularly since it has aspirations of being a Bergman-esque chamber drama which, while fairly compelling and austere, clearly lacks the necessary depth which a master craftsman would otherwise bring to such material.
''I'd like to make love, and then I'd like you to go. Because I need to stay here and if you make it hard for me, I may cry so hard I'll never stop.''
In conclusion, Away From Her aims at expected peaks and goals and mostly ticks them off the list, but remember, this isn't a film about surprises and stultifying plot twists like memory twister Memento for example.
It is a sympathetic, affecting, uncompromising look at Alzheimer's effect on it's victim and surrounding people that know her, like family, husband etc.
So slow pace, grand performances and for Sarah Polley's screen writing and directing debut, it's a very impressive start.
''I never wanted to be away from her. She had the spark of life.''
8/10
