Away From Her

Strong performances from the inimitable Julie Christie and the lesser known Gordon Pinset can’t compensate for the overly-sentimental reasoning behind a husband’s inability to make peace with his wife’s Alzheimer’s disease. Fiona (Christie) and Grant (Pinset), Fiona’s husband of 25 years, reach an impasse in their weathered relationship when her memory loss reaches such an acute proportion that Grant places her in a less-than-ideal rest home. Fiona seems to forget Grant and latches onto a fellow male patient (Michael Murphy) with a visible romantic attachment that openly insults to Grant’s dedication to her. Detestable use of Neil Young songs and an irrelevant performance from the overrated Olympia Dukakis further weaken Sarah Polley’s overstrained directorial debut. The film is based on Alice Munro’s short story "The Bear Came Over the Mountain."

Rated PG-13. 110 mins. (C+) (Two Stars)