Disappearing Acts: Examining "Away From Her"

"I think I may be beginning to disappear." -Fiona (Julie Christie) in "Away From Her"

But, alas, she never does. In fact, she never even really begins to. And this was my biggest issue with director/adapter Sarah Polley's 2006 film "Away From Her".

Yup, another movie review. Two days in a row now. I've always secretly found Gene Shalit to be an irresistible hunk of man-meat, so this all makes perfect sense to me.

"Away From Her", based on the great Alice Munro's story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain", is the portrait of aging married couple Grant (Gordon Pinset) and Fiona (Julie Christie), focusing on the disintegration of their hearts, minds, and relationship after Fiona is (supposedly) diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. She spends most of the film in a nursing home, where she befriends a male resident -- and fellow Alzheimer's patient -- named Aubrey. An undeniable, suspicious friendship develops between the two, and Grant is alienated by Fiona's coldness during his visits and her preference for being with Aubrey. Meanwhile, Grant strikes up an unexpected friendship with Aubrey's wife, Marian (the always terrific Olympia Dukakis). The dynamics of all of these relationships, especially that of Grant and Fiona, are made all the more complicated by the guilt Grant is carrying around about a not-so-secret 20-year-old infidelity.

Now. This is heavy stuff, right? But I gotta give some props to 28-year-old Sarah Polley, who is an accomplished actress in her own right (not only was she amazing in "The Sweet Hereafter", but she was Ramona Quimby in the Ramona TV series of the 80s -- and we all know how I loves me some Ramona!). Polley's love for the story and her actors is evident in every scene, and I unabashedly praise her artistic sensitivity and bravery in taking on such difficult subject matter for her directing/writing debut.

But the film is not without its problems. Actually, there's really just one big one that manages to reverberate throughout the whole affair (no pun intended).

Now let me just say that I adore Julie Christie. She is a stellar actress. To this day, I remain haunted by her final scene in "Afterglow" (which was a stinker of a movie elevated to art solely by Christie's radiant performance). And it bears mentioning that 67-year-old Christie is one of the sexiest women -- if not THE sexiest woman -- on the face of the earth. Even playing an Alzheimer's patient, she's insanely hot.

Yet, at the same time, that's kinda the problem. Though Christie was regaled for her performance in "Away From Her" (gaining nominations for pretty much every single major acting award), nothing about her work here made me believe, really believe, that she was suffering from Alzheimer's. Don't get me wrong: she was by no means bad. She was just...inaccurate.

It is appropriate at this point for me to relay a deeply personal, and still painful, story from my own life. Both my grandmother and her sister, my great-aunt whom I was incredibly close to, had Alzheimer's. I watched these two very special people slowly, agonizingly, wither away from this disease. I know what Alzheimer's looks like. And it does not look like Julie Christie's Fiona.

It can be argued that Fiona was only in the early stages of the illness, so the major dementia and losses inherent in Alzheimer's had not yet fully set in. I understand the point in this argument, but I find it fallible. Even in the early stages, there are major signs (and I mean major, messed-up, upsetting signs) that make themselves known. Sure, Fiona did a couple of wacky things, like put a frying pan in the freezer and wander too far from home. But there should have been more telltale acts of the impending disease: huge events of utter confusion and dementia that she bounced back from, with no memory of said acts once back in her normal state of mind. In the natural progression of Alzheimer's, Fiona's life would slowly involve this "bouncing-back" less and less until, at the end, everything was swallowed by dementia.

But this isn't how Christie plays it. Her Fiona is surprisingly in-control and rather glamorous (hence the "skinny jeans" she wears throughout): just too put together for someone believably suffering from Alzheimer's at any stage. I'm not sure if Christie is a method actor, or what her technique or preparation for her work involves, but I felt that her performance just wasn't accurate in its depiction. At one point, Grant wonders if Fiona is faking it all as some kind of revenge for an affair he had 20 years ago. I must admit, given the errors in Fiona's characterization, it's a theory that has some weight behind it.

All this is OK, though. And it's OK because -- despite the accolades heaped upon Christie -- the real star and driving force of "Away From Her" is Gordon Pinset. The movie is really Grant's story, not Fiona's, and Pinset's work here is understated and elegant. Grant desperately wants his wife well again and, in one final, noble (though, in real life, highly unlikely) act of selflessness, he manages to both atone for the sins of his past and give Fiona what she needs to feel, if not better, than at least loved. And Pinset does it all with class.

I can forgive Julie Christie's fine yet flawed performance. If I can forgive her for being a part of that horseshit movie "Troy", I can certainly forgive her for making some mistakes in "Away From Her". She still reigns as one of our greatest actresses, and she is truly a living legend. Though I question the choices she made as Fiona, I applaud her decision to tackle such an "unattractive" role.

For a better representation of what Christie can do, rent "Afterglow". Her character in that film is, I think, infinitely more difficult than Fiona, and she plays it with devastating intensity and skill. Perhaps that was the problem with "Away From Her": Fiona was just too easy, and Christie needs a meatier role to inhabit.