Away from Her
Directed by: Sarah Polley
Mongrel Media
Near the end of Away from Her, straightforward Marian (Olympia Dukakis) calls Grant (Gordon Pinsent) to ask him out on a semi-date. “I wanted to say, I know you’re not single and I don’t mean it that way. I’m not, either. But it doesn’t hurt to get out once in a while,” she rambles. Marian is given relatively little screen time in the film. But after one phone message, the audience knows her. She’s courageous and scared, lonely and well-meaning. That’s part of the beauty of Away from Her. So much is conveyed through small, deliberate moments—Grant reading to his wife, Fiona (Julie Christie); Grant and Fiona holding each other comfortably in bed; Marian’s tearful, giddy relief when she and Grant unexpectedly have sex. In these moments, first-time director (and excellent Canadian actress) Sarah Polley deftly establishes character and history. As Fiona begins to struggle with Alzheimer’s, and signs herself into a long-term care facility, we feel Grant’s loss, as he’s forced to be “away from her” for the first time in decades. We’re shown only a small chunk of the couple’s 44 years together, but as Grant and Fiona share moments of easy affection, and refer obliquely to long-past infidelities, we get a sense of the life they’ve shared—and all the memories at stake as Fiona slowly starts to lose herself. The film’s lovely, subtle and devastating.
Lindsay McCarney
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.
