'AWAY FROM HER'
But the synapses continue to shut down and the brightly lit corners of life begin to fill with darkened shadows. The fine-edged memories begin to dull. Her distress grows more obvious.
When I look away, I forget what yellow means," Fiona (Julie Christie) tells her distressed husband of 44 years, Grant (Gordon Pinsent), in the tragically beautiful romance "Away From Her" (Lionsgate, 4 stars). "But I can look again," she continues hopefully. "Sometimes there's something delicious in oblivion."
But there eventually comes a time when even looking again does not trigger memory. Like the time Fiona goes cross-country skiing out the back door of their home on the densely wooded Canadian lake. They are the same trails she's followed since she was a child. Within minutes she is unsure of where she's going, and at a loss to recall where she's been.
Grant finds her wandering aimlessly in a nearby town.
"I think I may be beginning to disappear," says Fiona.
But it is the current memories that fade quickly. Fiona still has sharp and painful memories of the indiscretions her husband took with adoring young co-eds at the university where he'd taught Nordic mythology as a literature professor. They'd gotten through all that and 20 years ago, they'd put it all behind when they'd retired to the lake house.
Eventually Fiona, in her dwindling moments of lucidity, decides she needs to enter a managed-care institution for Alzheimer's victims. The decision is both logical and devastating. Fiona and Grant are of self-reliant Scandinavian stock. He is reserved, cynical. She was his supernova through whom life burned so brightly, she was his amazing grace. They'd not been apart for hardly more than a day in those 44 years.
Wendy Crewson plays Madeline, the director of Meadow Lakes, with the cold, distancing charm of a beauty queen, smile frozen on her face, even when delivering difficult news. As she takes Grant on a superficial tour of the facilities she points out that the second floor is "where the residents stay when they progress."
"Interesting choice of words, 'progress,'" observes Grant, but Madeline is - perhaps deliberately - oblivious to the irony and to the cynical tone in Grant's voice.
When Grant returns after an initial institution-enforced separation, he discovers that he's barely a blip on Fiona's memory. But even worse, she has become emotionally attached to another resident, Aubrey (Michael Murphy).
Grant can only sit helplessly and observe as Fiona assists the wheelchair-bound Aubrey around the facilities, helps him eat and play bridge. He sees his Fiona of old, filled with wit, charm and life - only it is directed toward another man. As one who appreciates irony, Grant also understands that ages ago, Fiona and Aubrey had had an affair.
There's a great, and perhaps too obvious, line that was cut from the film (it is in the deleted scenes on the DVD) in which Grant in an awkward moment says "Life is complicated," as he takes Aubrey's wife (the ever-feisty Olympia Dukakis) to a dance.
Boy, is it ever.
But among the sometimes heartbreaking complications there is beauty in this Sarah Polley-written and directed film (inspired by an Alice Munro short story). It is in how each person chooses to deal with those complications. "I think all we can aspire to in this situation is a little bit of grace," says Fiona, disclosing the code by which she has lived her whole life with Grant.
There isn't a false step or word in this movie. Julie Christie is unforgettable as she weaves the most ethereal "bit of grace" around each scene she shares with the taciturn Pinsent. In turn, his deep craggy eyes crackle with the pain he is unable to articulate as the object of his adoration fades before his eyes.
"Away From Her" is a most profound and unforgettable love story.
ALSO THIS WEEK
"A Few Days in September" (Koch Lorber, 2 1/2 stars) A multinational spy thriller starring Juliette Binoche, John Turturro and Nick Nolte that takes place in the days leading up to Sept. 11, 2001. Binoche is a French agent trying to track down Nolte, a one-time colleague and now a rogue CIA agent. Both are pursued by Turturro's character, an assassin with a poetic soul. It seems Nolte has information about a pending cataclysmic event but there are others who'd rather that information were kept silent as there are profits to be made in tragedy.
"Even Money" (Fox, 1 1/2 stars) Several individuals are connected by their addiction to gambling and it culminates in one moment when they can be either lost or reclaimed. There is a huge and impressive cast, lead by Forest Whitaker, Kim Basinger, Danny DeVito, Kelsey Grammer, Ray Liotta, Carla Gugino, Tim Roth and Jay Mohr. The film is directed by Mark Rydell ("On Golden Pond," "For the Boys"). But none of this adds up to much.
"Flock of Dodos" (Docurama, 2 stars) Are you a Darwinian? Or an Intelligent Designer? The debate is intense, and the stakes are not small but - oh! - some of the combatants! evolutionary biologist and filmmaker Randy Olson takes a look at the mirthful side of the ideological - and often idiotic - battle over how we got to where we are today. Neither side emerges unscathed, although I'd hardly call it balanced. Why is theology being pushed into the science class anyway?
"Private Property" (New Yorker Films, 2 1/2 star) A proposal to sell the family's renovated Belgian farm house becomes the focal point for resentments and rivalries around a divorcee (Isabelle Huppert) and her grown twin sons (Yannick Renier and Jeremie Renier). A film by Joachim Lafosse, in French with English subtitles.
"Snow Cake" (Genius, 2 1/2 stars) Recently released from prison, Alex (Alan Rickman) gives a lift to a young hitchhiker only to see her killed in a brutal car crash. Torn emotionally, Alex contacts the mother (Sigourney Weaver) to share the grief, only to discover that she is autistic. In the passing of events, Alex develops a relationship with the woman's neighbor (Carrie-Anne Moss).
Also on the shelves: Amanda Peet and Dermot Mulroney in the romantic comedy "Griffin & Phoenix"; another videogame-inspired action-thriller "DOA: Dead or Alive."
IT CAME FROM TV
Season two of the classic sea-psych sitcom "McHale's Navy" (36 episodes) with new commentary from Ernest Borgnine and Tim Conway. The third and final volume of the creepy and kooky sitcom "The Addams Family" (20 episodes).
Also, a "seriously extended" third season of "Grey's Anatomy"; the final season of the witch-crafty and combative "Charmed"; an uncensored season two of Seth Green and Matthew Senreich's sketchy favorite "Robot Chicken"; season two of the sexy sleuther "Bones"; and the hunts on for Sam and Dean in season two of "Supernatural."
A turn of the dial shows the debut season of the surprise sitcom hit "Two and a Half Men"; the fourth season of the classic fantasy sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie"; the made-for-TV HBO remake "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee" (Nominated for 17 Academy Awards); and dance on for diversity with season three of the 1980s hit "Fraggle Rock."
FROM THE VAULTS
"The Graduate: 40th Anniversary Edition" (MGM) Forty years. I'm going to lay down and take a nap. Sigh. Two-disc anniversary edition features new commentary tracks from stars Dustin Hoffman and Katharine Ross and director Mike Nichols (who won the Oscar for this picture, out of seven nominations) and also commentary from respected director Steven Soderbergh. There are behind-the-scenes features and a new documentary on the influence of "The Graduate" on culture and filmmaking.
"The Noel Coward Collection" (BBC Video) For those who favor the urbane wit and sly social commentary of the early 20th century playwright Noel Coward, this is the collection to end all compendiums. The seven DVD discs hold television broadcasts of some of his finest plays ("Hay Fever," "Private Lives," "Design for Living," "Present Laughter," the two-part "Suite in Two Keys" - Come into the Garden Maude" and "A Song At Twilight" - and "The Vortex") as well as eight one-act plays, six dramatized short stories, two interviews with Coward, performances of his most-popular songs and six radio productions of his plays.
"The Valentino Collection" from specialty house Flicker Alley. The two-disc set holds some of the gifted actor's finest silent film era work: "The Young Rajah" (1922), "Stolen Moments" (1920), "A Society Sensation" (1918) and "Moran of the Lady Letty" (1922). There's a ton of supporting material on the silver screen heartthrob included in the pack. Check details out at www.flickeralley.com. The set is also available on www.amazon.com.
Also: a 10th anniversary edition of John Woo's action-packed "Face/Off" starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage; MGM's "gory horror" films the H.P. Lovecraft-inspired "From Beyond (Unrated)" and zombie spoof "The Return of the Living Dead (Collector's Edition)."
DVD RATINGS
4 stars: Don't miss: rent it/buy it
3 stars: Worth the risk: rent it
2 stars: On the tipping point: if nothing else is available
1 star: Don't bother: wait until it's in the $1 bin
© Copley News Service
Comments (0)
Greater Paramus News and Lifestyle Magazine
http://www.paramuspost.com/article.php/20070907141311597