Still Alice
As I said, last night I went to see Still Alice. I can't remember the last time that a film had such a large impact on me.
The story concerns 50 year old Dr Alice Howland, who works at Columbia University as a professor of linguistics. We discover that she's a woman with the ambition to have it all who succeeded, with an impressive academic career and a strong family unit. After spells of forgetfulness, she sees a neurologist who later informs her that she has early onset Alzheimers Disease.
Julianne Moore won Best Actress at the Oscars last month for this role and it could not feasibly have gone to anyone else. I'm not very good at describing why I think certain acting performances are strong. Here, it's because I believe entirely in Howland's character, the depth of her anguish and her battle to retain her sense of self. At one point she informs her husband (Alec Baldwin) that she wishes she had cancer and we entirely understand why. Cancer would not entail the mental decline and the increasing disconnection from her family. In one particularly heartbreaking sequence, Alice attempts to follow her previously recorded instructions to take an overdose when she is unable to remember her family's names but is distracted by her carer's arrival at the door. Seemingly, she is even deprived of a dignified death.
As time passes, the film excels at highlighting precisely how great the gulf between Alice and her family and the outside world has become. Deliberately out of focus camera work is used to great effect, particularly in one scene where her family are discussing her condition on the other side of the room to her, unseen.
Baldwin brings a certain gravitas to proceedings, although I find it difficult to envisage him as any other character than the Reaganite executive Jack Donaghy from 30 Rock. But it's Kristen Stewart shines in support as Alice's youngest daughter, Lydia, particular during the film's poignant conclusion. It's one of the most difficult experiences I've had in the cinema, but Still Alice is essential viewing.
The story concerns 50 year old Dr Alice Howland, who works at Columbia University as a professor of linguistics. We discover that she's a woman with the ambition to have it all who succeeded, with an impressive academic career and a strong family unit. After spells of forgetfulness, she sees a neurologist who later informs her that she has early onset Alzheimers Disease.
Julianne Moore won Best Actress at the Oscars last month for this role and it could not feasibly have gone to anyone else. I'm not very good at describing why I think certain acting performances are strong. Here, it's because I believe entirely in Howland's character, the depth of her anguish and her battle to retain her sense of self. At one point she informs her husband (Alec Baldwin) that she wishes she had cancer and we entirely understand why. Cancer would not entail the mental decline and the increasing disconnection from her family. In one particularly heartbreaking sequence, Alice attempts to follow her previously recorded instructions to take an overdose when she is unable to remember her family's names but is distracted by her carer's arrival at the door. Seemingly, she is even deprived of a dignified death.
As time passes, the film excels at highlighting precisely how great the gulf between Alice and her family and the outside world has become. Deliberately out of focus camera work is used to great effect, particularly in one scene where her family are discussing her condition on the other side of the room to her, unseen.
Baldwin brings a certain gravitas to proceedings, although I find it difficult to envisage him as any other character than the Reaganite executive Jack Donaghy from 30 Rock. But it's Kristen Stewart shines in support as Alice's youngest daughter, Lydia, particular during the film's poignant conclusion. It's one of the most difficult experiences I've had in the cinema, but Still Alice is essential viewing.
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