Sarah Polley's "Away from Her"

The film's ostensible subject is Alzheimer's disease, but its real theme is that of the marital bond tested by different kinds of infidelity. Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent are powerful, but Olympia Dukakis stole my heart through her utterly convincing portrayal of a disillusioned wife whose husband falls in love with Christie's character in the nursing home. The film redeems the suffering of Christie's and Pinsent's characters with a vision of love. But what about the wife who confesses that the only reason she stays with her mentally ill husband is to hold on to the house?

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