away from her

i saw the shorts to this film a few weeks back and it sort of resonated
even though i have an aversion to films that subject leans towards the schmaltzy
but the shorts included a tune that may well be the one for me of 2007
be here now by ray lamontagne
as stated previously i think this one is an absolute gift of a song
acoustic guitar and strings backing up the man singing about finding inner strength
to deal with that which he is confronted - whatever that may be
so when this song featured strongly in the shorts it seemed a great match
in the film a man has to cope with the loss of his wife of 44 years to alzheimers disease
the setting of winter in canada added to the attraction of the film
i've not seen much of julie christie in the past but she is one beautiful lady
it may be an overused expression but she inhabited the character she was playing
gave a totally convincing performance of a lady slowly losing her marbles
though the story had a twist that suggested she in fact may have been feigning her illness
which for a while had me looking for signs of an actor playing the part of a lady acting she was ill
which seemed doubtful which in itself says a lot about julie christie's skill
for it was certainly most likely the lady really did have alzheimers
gordon pinsent playing the husband was also totally convincing
it was a slow gentle descent for him into the realisation of what he was up against
as his wife decided she really needed to be in a nursing home
to which he reluctantly agreed and then had to deal with the agony
of losing her both emotionally and physically
this would all suggest that we have the makings of a very sad film
which to a degree it is but also quite refreshing in it's subject
there can be no argument that we are all heading to the same place
that being old(er) age with the inevitable loss of mind, body, partners and so on
but we may all be better for facing up to that and seeing this kind of film
rather than live in a constant state of denial as it is easier to do
there's quite a lot of flash-forward happening in the film
so we can see where the film is heading before we get there
which in this case works quite well when it becomes apparant this is happening
the film is augmented by some great acting from the 2 main characters
and is set in a beautiful crisp setting of the winter snow season
which ironically turns to spring as the film concludes
there is some very appropriate and appealing background music
including some famous canadian performers (not old but...)
though no hint of the song they used in the trailer
grrrr...just as well the film was a good one anyway