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Reviews Counted:137
Fresh:129
Rotten:8
Average Rating:8/10
Consensus: An accomplished directorial debut by Sarah Polley, Away From Her is a touching exploration of the effects of Alzheimer's, in which the tender wisdom of Polley's script is beautifully complemented by a wonderful performance from Julie Christie.
Theatrical Release:May 4, 2007 Limited
Box Office: $15,830,046
Synopsis: Canadian actress Sarah Polley makes an impressive directorial debut with AWAY FROM HER, a film adapted from the Alice Munro story "The Bear Came Over The Mountain." The plot concerns the way in... [More]
Starring: Julie Christie, Olympia Dukakis, Gordon Pinsent, Michael Murphy
Director: Sarah Polley
Sarah Polley is that rare flower, a genuine Canadian star. She's well-regarded everywhere yet chooses to live and work at home. Naturally her first feature as a writer-director has garnered scrutiny. The news is all good.
What is lost in realism is made up for in the power of the drama.
In a refreshingly direct, unassuming manner, Away From Her considers two great human mysteries: the persistence of love and the workings of the brain.
Top CriticChristie is brilliant as steely but brittle Fiona, a woman who knows her mind completely and yet, in the end, cannot hang on to it, while Pinsent eloquently portrays the gradual ebbing away of a partnership, as delicate and unstoppable as snow-melt.
Sarah Polley's sad, wise and simply dazzling directorial effort beams with warmth.
Polley captures the brisk, cheerful fascism of nursing-home existence with merciless clarity; if you've visited a parent or grandparent in one of those places, you may want to laugh and cry in the same moment.
Top CriticI have seen few films in recent years as emotionally engrossing and edifying. It is not to be missed by any moviegoer professing to be looking for something different.
Top CriticRarely has love at any age been depicted so honestly on screen. For such a fully realized portrait to be created by a 28-year-old first-time director is even more remarkable.
Christie (with whom Polley acted in Hal Hartley's No Such Thing) is still a radiant presence at 66 and she rivets us to the screen.
Spare and poignantly bittersweet, Sarah Polley's wrenching romantic drama ... delves into the painful effects of Alzheimer's disease.
So beautifully, delicately and completely about relationships, their strengths and weaknesses and unavoidable changes, that the illness aspects of the story, key as they are, play secondary roles.
It's a gorgeous acting job from Christie, striking those moods of frustration, depression, and infirmed calm so vividly.
It's nice to see serious issues other than crime and drugs in the movies and even nicer to see a filmmaking talent like Sarah Polley blossoming.
Away From Her is poignant, wise and unafraid -- just the sort of film for a young person, or any person, for that matter, to make.
Top CriticWith Away From Her, Christie, Pinsent and actress-turned-filmmaker Sarah Polley have crafted an intensely moving portrait of a marriage.
A remarkable character study from actress-turned-director Sarah Polley, Away From Her is a triumph for Christie, who like Helen Mirren and Diane Keaton, grows lovelier and more compelling with every performance.
Top CriticAway From Her is a film of piercing clarity, one that knocks you out over and over again with its beauty and generosity.
Away From Her is that rare movie that breaks hearts with finesse and reserve, not through brute force.
Does the finest job of any film in painting a believable portrait of aging, capturing the sadness, confusion, anxiety and defiance of the early stages of dementia.
A wise and tender Alzheimer's drama.
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