Somewhat Forgettable

Fiona and Grant have been married for forty years, living in their log cabin by the lake, skiing, making love and reading to each other by a log fire. It all seems quite perfect, until Fiona (Julie Christie) starts forgetting that the stuff in the bottle is called wine and puts the pans away in the freezer. Her forgetfulness is diagnosed as Alzheimers, and one day after losing her way home she decides to check into a "retirement facility". For the first time in their marriage, the couple faces a thirty-day separation. At the end of the month, when Grant (Gordon Pinsent) goes to see his wife he finds that not only has she forgotten him but has transferred her affections to another man.

Sarah Polley’s directorial debut AWAY FROM HER (Canada) is a skilled exploration of a couple dealing with past disappointments and selective remembrances. Grant turns out to have been unfaithful to Fiona with his former students and now has to wonder if her romance with the wheelchair bound Aubrey (Michael Murphy) is some sort of revenge. Where the film slips is in failing to exploit the immense scale of the notion of memory. There is something vast and immensely evocative in the idea of forgetting - of having the minutiae of our everyday lives, our loved ones and even our own selves obliterated deep inside our own heads. Polley reduces this potential drama to at best a metaphor and at most times a mere backdrop to the “condition” afflicting the couple. When Aubrey’s wife Marianne (Olympia Dukakis) withdraws him from the facility, Fiona is pushed into a depression. Grant has to draw on his reserves of love for his wife to redeem her man and in the process, himself.

There are moments of genuine emotion in the film, particularly in the shots of Grant watching his wife share the intimacy of everyday gestures with another man. There are also flashes of humour, as when Fiona pretends to forget what Grant is talking about before giggling naughtily, “Just kidding”. Polley’s political convictions shine through in a moment of delicious irony, when Fiona, watching television in the lounge of her institution, reacts to footage of the Iraq war by saying: “How could they forget Vietnam”?

Polley has managed to extract some good performances from her cast, including the wonderfully nuanced Olympia Dukakis in the role of the practical Marianne, hungry to extract some happiness out of life. The jarring note is struck in part by Christie, whose brief was clearly to impart grace and dignity to her character. This she does by talking in the kind of measured prose that may sound profound but is annoyingly unreal after a while. She looks the image of aging dignity, but I found myself wishing the couple would risk dislodging their stiff upper lips to display some real emotion.

AWAY FROM HER is an intelligent film, with Polley using the vast snow covered landscapes to mirror her character’s state of mind. It is also at times a very moving film, raising questions on the fundamental nature of love, forgiveness and letting go. It is unfortunate that the parts do not fall into place to create a satisfying whole, making it a somewhat forgettable experience.

Taran Khan

© Berlinale Talent Campus 2007