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| Away from Her | 
 enlarge | Director: Sarah Polley
Actors: Julie Christie, Gordon Pinsent, Olympia Dukakis, Michael Murphy, Wendy Crewson
Studio: Lions Gate
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $3.34
You Save: $11.64 (78%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  81 reviews
Sales Rank: 6193
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 110
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: LGED21795D
UPC: 031398217954
EAN: 0031398217954
ASIN: B000T5O48A
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
Release Date: September 11, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Sarah Polley's stunning directorial debut May 23, 2007
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Sarah Polley - only 28 and a decade removed from her breakthrough in Atom Egoyan's 'The Sweet Hereafter' - makes a second career breakthrough here with the jawdroppingly polished and accomplished 'Away From Her.' Egoyan is listed as an Executive Producer here. Ms. Polley obviously observed him closely. She's applied those lessons well.
Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent are both outstanding. Christie - radiant at 66 - is heartbreaking. She's also a living lesson to Hollywood about growing old gracefully and being comfortable with who you are. She's such a pleasant sight instead of these botox/collagen freaks. I also liked Michael Murphy's excellent turn as 'Aubrey.' He doesn't say a word in the film, but what he does do is subtly emotional stuff.
Director Polley also has a wonderful touch with music. Of particular note, she uses Neil Young's 'Harvest Moon' in a way the will do nothing less than send chills up your spine. It's brilliant.
Remarkably Accomplished and Moving May 18, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
"Away From Her", the new film written and directed by actor Sarah Polley (best known for her role in "Go"), based on a short story by Alice Munro and starring Julie Christie, Gordon Pinsent and Olympia Dukakis, is a real revelation.
First and foremost, this is the directorial debut of Polley. This is a major accomplishment in and of itself, but she also wrote the screenplay. Both are so understated, so low key, she almost appears to be filming real people as they go through the tribulations of their lives. She might have gotten away with this except for two things; she uses well-known actors and presents the story in a non-linear fashion.
Grant (Gordon Pinsent), a former college professor, and his wife, Fiona (Julie Christie), live in a lodge on a frozen lake in Canada. They enjoy each other and live their days of retirement with a lot of activity; cross country skiing is a particular favorite activity. Then, Fiona begins to have trouble remembering things and still other things confuse her. Grant recognizes this as well, but seems to think she will get better. Fiona is diagnosed with Alzheimer's and they face the news with their usual steadfastness. They don't seem to talk about it much, but it haunts their activities and time together. Soon, the problem becomes too much and Fiona recognizes she will soon need to check into Meadowlark, a new facility for Alzheimer's patients. There, she befriends Aubrey (Michael Murphy), a silent man who seems to respond to her attention and care. Grant is shaken by this and seems put off. Then, Aubrey is removed from the home and Fiona becomes bedridden. Grant travels to Aubrey's home and meets his wife, Marian (Olympia Dukakis). They form a friendship and Grant tries to figure out a why to help Aubrey return to the home, so his wife will become better, and also a way to forge a new life with his friend Marian.
It has been a while since I have seen Julie Christie on screen and she is, quite frankly a revelation. Always a beautiful woman, she has retained much of her beauty through her career and now seems both mature and beautiful. In an industry that relies so heavily on twenty something starlets, it is nice to see an actress of Christie's caliber getting a really good, juicy role. Every time she is on screen, we see something about her character. When she is in a room with Grant, we see how she is confused by her new medical problem. Gradually, we see how they come to accept the problem. In the nursing home, she latches onto Aubrey as a sort of project, a way to keep her mind working, to keep as strong as possible. But there are also moments when the disease is winning. The combination of these moments helps to paint a picture of a strong woman who is more in turmoil because of her lack of strength and independence. She has been robbed of these things and seems unsure how to get them back.
She clearly loves Grant, but they have had their moments, and these show in their every interaction. As good as Christie is, Pinsent (whose background seems to be primarily as a guest star on various television series) is her equal. A former professor, he still retains the thought processes of an intellectual. Every time he is faced with something new, he stops, pauses and thinks the problem through. These include the few moments we watch as he has to deal with a new facet of his wife's disease.
When he initially witnesses the relationship between his wife and her new friend, his face remains impassive, yet a number of emotions also seem to cross his features. I am not sure how this was accomplished, but it is particularly impressive. Is his wife having an affair? If she is, should he let it continue? Will it help her more than it hurts him?
Olympia Dukakis hasn't been this good in years. As Marian, the wife of Aubrey, she is hardened, lonely and abrupt. It has been a struggle for her to care for her husband and then it is a financial struggle for her to keep him at Meadowlark. When Grant shows up at her door, she immediately blurts something out, unsure of his intentions. But then she realizes he simply wants to talk and warms up a little. But Marian could help stop all of the icecaps from melting, simply by looking at them. Then, as they get to know each other, she seems to realize if she participates in Grant's life, she might not feel so lonely.
Michael Murphy is also great as Aubrey. He never speaks a word, confined to a wheelchair. Yet, he is able to demonstrate his character's emotions and feelings for Fiona. When they are together, his eyes follow her around as she helps him play cards. When her attention diverts from him, he `drops' his cards and she immediately returns to pick them up and help him out. It is a touching, believable performance.
Generally, films told in non-linear fashion turn me off. "Pulp Fiction", "Go" and others are told in non-linear fashion and I loved them, but they are told in a more mainstream fashion. "Away From Her" is told in true non-linear style. As we watch, a series of scenes help depict Fiona and Grant's relationship, their life together, their love, both in present day and the immediate past. Then, we see Grant dealing with the bureaucracy of Meadowlark and the decision to check his wife into the facility. He meets Marian and we learn she has brought Aubrey back home, yet, we just saw her husband and Fiona together at the home. This is the type of non-linear story presented with many different timelines happening concurrently on the screen. This is usually the type of non-linear film I can't stand. But in "Her", Polley uses this technique effectively. It just makes sense that we would watch the film in this fashion, because we are witnessing the story through the eyes of Fiona and Gordon, and their entire existence becomes about dealing with Fiona's memory loss. As they work through various issues, they will remember snippets of information piecemeal. Things will come back in a non-chronological fashion. This helps to put us in the shoes of Gordon, and see the world through his eyes.
"Away From Her" is a remarkably accomplished film with some outstanding performances. Hopefully, it will break out of the independent film circuit and enjoy a wider audience. It deserves one.
Polley's directorial debut and Pinsent's performance place AWAY FROM HER very close to your heart May 13, 2007
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Polley's directorial debut and Pinsent's performance place AWAY FROM HER very close to your heart
When Grant watches his wife of 45 years,Fiona, clean up after dinner and put the frying pan into the refrigerator without a thought of impropriety,or when she offers wine at a dinner party and she cannot remember the word "wine",he realizes that what he has been watching all along has been the early onset of Alzheimer's Disease.The couple eventually make a much bantered about decision to enter Fiona at Meadowlake Private Facility for a period of thirty days where neither will see each other.This seems almost too much to bear.On the way to the Facility, Fiona wants to talk about their past alluding to Grant's indiscretions with women early on in their marriage.Fiona knows that her short term memory will go rapidly,but that the long term will stay with her for a while.This shocks Grant
,but he allows it to pass in secret shame.They reach the Care facility and upon checking in,Fiona asks that Grant and she make love one last time then him leave.Within thirty days of the first allowed visit,Grant returns to a woman who no longer recognizes him; or does she and is she pretending?
Grant questions whether Fiona is faking and punishing him.Even before the decision to come to Meadowlake, Fiona shows a hint of playfulness when upon Grant's mentioning of Meadowlake, Fiona dead pan replies "Where?".Such is the dilemma faced by Grant as he continually visits Fiona and sees her possibly having already slipped away from him.In fact,Fiona seems to have found a "love interest" in another patient,Aubrey, whom Fiona regales as a thwarted beau from her teen years in her Grandparent's Store. Could that be a truth of her long term memory,is she delusional,or is Fiona secretly lying? Grant even seeks out Aubrey's wife,Marian,(an ever saucy Olympia Dukakis), about this,but she is unable to confirm anything as she states "I did not grow up here." Just like the book, even the ending of this film keeps one guessing and leaves much open to interpretation.That Alzheimer's IS progressing, though, is never in doubt and the effects are debilitating.
AWAY FROM HER is a marvel of a film from Canadian actress Sarah Polley in her directorial debut-and what a debut it is.This film is so maturely and sensitively crafted that where does this woman go from here? Faithful to the Alice Munro story THE BEAR CAME OVER THE MOUNTAIN, Polley keeps this film always focused squarely on Grant, magnificently rendered by the amazingly competent Gordon Pinsent, as the caregiver who is left behind by Fiona,in a rare performance by Julie Christie.Polley keeps this film from ever becoming heavy handed as bits of humour and outside characters are injected at stategic points in order to keep from descending into depths of maudlin.Though alot is learned about the ravages of Alzheimer's, this film is concerned more with the hardship of the caregiver.As the caregiver, Gordon Pinsent understatedly steals this movie and runs away with it in a truly outstanding performance.As marvelous as the rest of the cast is, this is Pinsent's tour-de-force.
Other companion films on Alzheimer's would be IRIS,THE FORGETTING,THE NOTEBOOK and A SONG FOR MARTIN.AWAY FROM HER was filmed in Canada and is rated PG-13.
The Incomparable Julie Christie Moves Us Again May 13, 2007
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Based on a short story by Alice Munro, "The Bear Came Over the Mountain," AWAY FROM HER, directed by Sarah Polley, will break your heart. Fiona, in her early 60's develops Alzheimer's and makes the decision, when the time comes, that she will enter a nursing home. The plot is straight forward and all too familiar to those of us who have dealt with this insidious, unforgiving disease. When Fiona enters the nursing facility, she becomes more distant to her husband Grant (Gordon Pinsent) and develops a crush on another patient Aubrey, who is married to Marian (Olympia Dukasis). Fiona becomes every person with Alzheimer's: the putting of the skillet in the refrigerator, the covering up of memory loss, ("I'm not adept at names") remembering things in the distant past, (on the way to the nursing home, Fiona reminds Granta of his affairs with women students twenty years previously) the remembering of things one minute and forgetting them the next, the gradual deteriorating of both mind and body.
Both Pinsent and Dukasis give fine performances. (She as Marian has her own problems which are mostly financial. She cannot leave Aubrey in the home or she will lose their house, their only asset.) But Christie is magnificent as Fiona-- and looks the way a woman who was otherworldly beautiful at 20 would look at 66, still beautiful in old age. Much of the action is set in snowy Canadian winters and there are shots of Christie that remind us of Laura in DOCTOR ZHIVAGO.
For all its bleakness-- and there is plenty of that, particularly the scenes in the nursing home where some patients just sit, others shout, and the female staff with their forced cheerfulness, many of whom wear those awful flowered tops and ugly pastel pants-- the movie is also about the power of love and staying together for the duration. There is a beautiful passage when Fiona reminds Grant that he had nothing to hold him to her in the marriage, that he could have left but he didn't. She loves him for that and thanks him.
We should thank our neighbors to the north for this thoughtful film.
Adult Content May 12, 2007
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
The critical praise for Away From Her's young director and the four leading actors is all richly earned. Sarah Polley directs actors who could easily be her parents with a sure, but light touch. They are pros; let them run. She does and in doing so brings sensitivity, wit, sympathy and grace to their layered lives. Julie Christie -- what can you say? More than 40 years after Dr. Zhivago she is still beautiful and still walks away with a movie, which is to take nothing away from her three co-stars. The only caveat on this movie for me is that it feels a bit stretched, especially in the several cross-country skiing scenes.
But I think the greatest credit for this absorbing movie about final gifts in an enduring, loving, but not trouble-free marriage belongs to Alice Munro, who wrote the short story -- The Bear Came Over the Mountain -- on which it is based. Munro mines the complexities of the everyday better than any other writer I know. She writes, mostly, of adults and for adults. We, as adult filmgoers, could do a lot worse than to see more of her work made into movies. (My first choice would be The Albanian Virgin.)
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