Ryan McNeil
There’s a song by R.E.M. that says “It’s easier to leave than to be left behind”. I couldn’t help but think about that line as I watched AWAY FROM HER, which is a very tender Canadian movie about a woman who succumbs to Alzheimer’s.
It’s a very tender and heartbreaking film starring Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent as Fiona and Grant: a couple who have been together for fifty years. She finds herself getting increasingly confused and disoriented, and together decide that she should go to a nursing home for the proper care. It’s the hospital’s policy that family members stay away for 30 days to help the patient adjust. The only problem is, by the time Grant returns, Fiona has lost all memory of him.
Based on a story by Alice Munro, and directed by Sarah Polley, the movie is about as Canadian as it gets…right down to the snowbanks and cross-country skis. Perhaps then it’s fitting that the film won The Genie Award for Best Picture of 2007. It’s a delicate and heartbreaking movie, and the sort that your local movie rental shop will likely only have one or two copies of. It’s worth tracking down though, if for no other reason than to watch Julie Christie’s beautiful work.
As I finished watching the DVD, I was left with one question, and it’s one I haven’t been able to answer – what would be worse; being the one who forgets, or the one who is forgotten?