Sweet & Ironic--Away from Her

Perhaps Sarah Polley has an old soul. In her late twenties, she has written and directed a film based on Alice Munro’s short story “The Bear Came Over the Mountain”, depicting passion and longing within a 40-year marriage. In Polley’s film AWAY FROM HER, graceful Fiona (Julie Christie) succumbs to Alzheimer’s, while her husband Grant (Gordon Pinsent) watches her disappear into the disease. Polley’s fidelity to the spirit of Munro’s poignant tale is evident in every aspect of the film—in casting, direction, cinematography, editing, and especially in the script. Grant’s memories and musings come to life on the screen in images and lines that echo the short story: “I never wanted to be away from her,” he says. “She had the spark of life.”

Polley began acting as a child, staring in the Ramona series, then the Avonlea series for television. As a young adult she has added writing and filmmaking to her list of accomplishments and has often chosen acting roles in independent films, including THE SWEET HEREAFTER, THE CLAIM, and THE SECRET LIFE OF WORDS. Filming NO SUCH THING, Polley worked with Christie and envisioned her in the role of Fiona. In Christie’s youth, she won an Academy Award for her role in DARLING; now in her maturity, she is nominated for her role in AWAY FROM HER. Indeed, Christie’s performance shines deservingly within Polley’s well-crafted film, as the actor captures all the ages her character ever was, giving the audience a glimpse of timeless beauty, guided by a director who is wise beyond her years.

In her script, Polley embellishes the subtle humor of the short story, the moments that fleetingly lift us from the heartache. Through flashbacks we see Grant was not always such a devoted husband, and he suspects Fiona’s selective memory of their shared past may be her way of punishing him. At the Meadowlake facility, Fiona forms an attachment to another patient, Aubrey (Michael Murphy), and one odd pairing leads to another when Grant seeks help from Aubrey’s pragmatic wife, Marian (Olympia Dukakis). Polley’s added character development of other visiting family members and patients, particularly the addition of the demented former sportscaster who keeps up a running commentary of goings-on at Meadowlake, are inspired.

Reading “The Bear Came Over the Mountain” and viewing AWAY FROM HER, I was reminded of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116—“Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds . . .” As Fiona and Grant prepare to leave their house, he to take her to Meadowlake and come home alone, he thinks she looks “just like herself on this day”, and in the film he tells her just how she has always looked to him: “Direct and vague. Sweet and ironic.” The camera is on Christie’s face, each spoken word evident in her expression. Grant longs to call Fiona back to him but, instead, attempts to give her what she needs. As G. K. Chesterton wrote, “the way to love something is to realize that it could be lost.” So, a young filmmaker gives us a story of mature love—sweet and ironic.

Rosemary Poole-Carter