FILM:
BIRDS EYE VIEW FILM FESTIVAL
Away From Her
[Sarah Polley, Canada, 2006, 110' event total 120' ]
Friday 9th March ICA CINEMA 1: 8.30PM
Based
on the short story "The Bear Who Came Over the Mountain"
by Alice Munro, this is the UK premiere of cult indie actress Sarah
Polley’s astounding directorial debut.
Away
From Her stars the magnificent, Oscar© nominated Julie Christie
as a middle-aged woman (Fiona) suffering from Alzheimer’s.
After a subsequent outing results in her confusedly staying out
in the cold for hours, she decides to check herself in to a nearby
deluxe rest home. Husband Grant fears the stay will become permanent,
and might hasten Fiona's decline. Still, she insists, despite the
facility's policy barring all visitors and phone calls for the patient's
first 30 days. When fellow patient Aubrey becomes the object of
Fiona’s affections, Grant must draw upon his love for Fiona
to perform an act of self-sacrifice in order to ensure her happiness.
‘The
pain of watching a spouse succumb to Alzheimer's is given a particularly
deep and sensitive treatment in Away From Her’ – Hollywood
Reporter.
Sarah
Polley has won key awards for her acting roles in independent productions
‘My Life Without Me’ (Isabel Coixet) and Wim Wenders
latest ‘Don’t Come Knocking’. She wowed critics
at Toronto with this first foray into directing for her maturity
and strong writing abilities… the film hailed as ‘a
gracefully wrought study of a long-term marriage being wedged apart
by Alzheimer's’ (variety).
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