"Away from Her" DVD

I have not seen this movie yet, but some say that it's similar to "the Notebook" ... I have this on the waiting list at the library.. =)


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This Is A Must-See Film
by cineramaman (movies profile) Jun 2, 2008
47 of 47 people found this review helpful
What makes us who we are? Are we not really the memories of our experiences, the memories of who we are in relation to others? And when those memories begin to vanish, one by one, and sometimes in whole volumes at once, in a very real sense don\'t we cease to exist? And what happens when others remember the less savory moments of our lives and we don\'t? What happens when the memory of an individual\'s personality no longer exists in its full context, of the interplay between light and dark moments? What if those are the only memories they have of us?

These are the various questions explored in the complex character study, "Away from Her."

Technically and artistically, the film is a wonder. My mother lived the last years of her life in a nursing home. She began living there too young, as does Fiona, played by Julie Christie. The feel of the home is exactly right. Administrator Madeleine, played perfectly by Wendy Crewson, is like every administrator I met over fifteen years. She is all business, and completely emotionally removed from her job-- except for one fleeting moment, when she turns tail and walks away from another\'s tragedy as quickly as she can. But I can forgive her. For her, this is self-preservation. And then there is the character whose life is predicated on empathy: nurse Veronica. I swear I knew her in all her many disguises while Mom lived and died in the nursing home. She was played with a genuine sense of compassion by Deanna Dezmari.

There was one weak performance, and it must be noted. I don\'t know what happened with her preparation for the role, but Olympia Dukakis was completely miscast. She simply didn\'t understand the character. The delivery of almost every line was flat and condescending to the audience, like she was reading from cue cards. Not good.

There are the three beautiful performances in the film. They are by Michael Murphy, Gordon Pinset (Grant, who is Fiona\'s husband), and Julie Christie. Pinset\'s voice rumbles like that of a purring cat. He and Christie played their parts with such incredible attention to detail that I knew I had seen these people in my mother\'s nursing home. My heart was lost to their characters as each struggled with memories-- he to have his wife remember, and she, perhaps, to forget him altogether. Michael Murphy plays Aubrey, a former executive who is left profoundly brain damaged by a viral infection. Murphy forced me to deal with his character\'s full range of emotions, from frustration, to love, to empathy, all with his eyes, all with his facial expressions, all without ever saying a word! What an amazing pantomime!

The film\'s ability to affect the viewer, to create so deep a level of pathos, is a testament to writer/director Sarah Polley\'s skill as an artist and love for her characters.

It is Mother\'s Day weekend in the U.S., and I had just taken flowers to Mom\'s grave before seeing the film. Needless to say, writer/director Polley almost had me in deep emotional distress several times. I am almost there, now, as I write this. And I\'ve already told my father NOT to see this film because it will hit him too closely.


If you don\'t mind shedding a tear or two, or contemplating your own future in a world determined to forget who you are, this film is a MUST!