when a great book or great story transcends the conversion to screenplay and maintains its identity on film. It is perhaps easier with short stories, and almost a virtual certainty if you retain the novelist as screenwriter. With the short story format, not chosen by many any more, going to the screen means the author can build on the story, feature nuances from the novel as scenes on the film, build character. No ripping apart and leaving on the film floor, you get to add to your own work. (My fingers are crossed as later this year, the transcendent novel, "Evening" also comes to the screen with author Susan Minot doing the screenwriting).

Those are the choices made by first time Director Sarah Polley in her film from 2006 (released in the US in 2007) - "Away from Her" . Polley is a fine Canadian film actress noted for her independent choices (and political agenda) who had just finished filming "No Such Thing" with the sublime Julie Christie in a character role, in 2001. Polley was returning to North America from a Iceland, where the film was made, when she read "The Bear Went Over the Mountain" from one of Alic Munro's collections of short stories, 2001's "Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage: Stories". She embarked on a path to make this film, doggedly determined to feature Christie in the lead role. And, she succeeded in a way that she must be immensely proud of.

This particular story of the impact of Alzheimer's on a family has always struck a chord with me - although I didn't favor this collection (my favorite Munro collections are "Runaway" and "Dance of the Happy Shades"), when I watched the film "The Notebook", a tale of coping with Alzheimer's in a marriage, I returned to this subliminal story and fell in love with it all over again. I didn't know about Polley's project to bring it to the screen until I read some scraps of a movie reviewer's piece last year, relishing the thought of Julie Christie returning to a leading actress role. In many ways, Christie and Polley are versions of each other - talented and beautiful, they let themselves drop out of mainstream filmmaking to focus on their causes. Breathtaking on the screen, perhaps their lasting filmographies will be due to the choices they've made of the roles that really matter.

The cast: Gordon Pinsent (Grant), Julie Christie (Fiona), Kristen Thompson (Kristy the nurse supervisor), Wendy Crewson (Madeleine, the rest home manager), Michael Murphy (Aubrey), Olympia Dukakis (Marian)

The plot:

The movie opens panning a space so white and untouched, with snow so cold and pristine that it can only be covering a lake in winter. Two people are cross country skiing on the lake. Their pace, dress and body types leave us unsurprised when we see them in their old fashioned cottage having and cleaning up from dinner. It is evident that they are a retired couple - 60-ish. Small touches of behavior in the opening scenes let us know that the couple is concerned about the frequent and dramatic loss of memory of the wife, Fiona. Many reviewers bring this to light with the scene of her putting the frying pan, after drying it, in the freezer and walking away quite numb - knowing something is not right but not knowing precisely what it is. The husband, Grant, waits until she leaves the room to remove it and put it in the appropriate cupboard. More telling for me is the scene where she and Grant are having dinner with friends...she goes to refill the glasses, glances at the wine bottle and can't remember what to call or how to pronounce the word "wine". Her distress and the shock of those who love her at the loss are palpable.

She's convinced she needs to be in a care facility, and assigns the task of selecting it to him. He is devastated at the thought of the loss of her, and even more so when he truly understands some the "rules" of the facility (they have to be apart for the first 30 days). In the ensuing months, his worst fears are realized as she forgets him and falls in love with another resident (Michael Murphy in the role of Aubrey, with no dialogue). Polley uses a technique of weaving forward and then back again to introduce the actions taken by Grant to first intervene between them, and then to intervene between the man and his wife (Olympia Dukakis). The bleakness of Fiona's journey, the inevitable conclusion, the determination of Grant to draw information from both Marian, the wife, and Kristy, the nurse, they all contribute to the greatness of this small film.

Filmed beautifully, Polley never lets the movie drag, as sad movies with determined endings often do. Polley evokes the strangeness of the situation in the facial expressions of the lovely Fiona. There is an invisible force of the disease present in almost every scene, in her manner, her face, her actions. Polley's demonstration of Fiona and Grant's love and passion is evidenced in the fearless aftermath of a lovemaking scene. Grant's sense of loss, his regrets for slight glimpses of infidelity, his total devastation at his loneliness and loss are real and we live his struggle.... not remarkably, the film marriage has lasted 44 years, akin to Gordon Pinsent's own union - doubtless he reached down within himself to present how he would feel if confronted by the same situation.

The summary:

If the buzz surrounding "Away from Her" strengthens, if it moves from art houses to the big screen, as it did in my city, if American film-goers continue to try to find the best, not just the biggest films at their 20+ plexes, well "Away from Her" may result in a new career for Munro on the screen, an ability for Polley to command projects as a director and awards for Julie Christie's amazing performance.

But that's not all of the good news about the film - Gordon Pinsent,some 77 years old, a stalwart actor, playwright, filmmaker and writer in Canada, is a hero, of the quietly desperate sort, in this film. He stands as a potential philanderer, now devoted to a wife he doesn't believe he deserves. His loneliness does not transcend his devotion, and he's clearly a hero, albeit flawed, to the nurse who watches the sad romance play out. Pinsent, who has had some fine film roles in America, is unfortunately known in the states mostly for his cameo role as the Mountie's dead father in the fine TV Series "Due South" and the liar, Hap Shaughnessy on the Canadian cult comedy "Red Green". Here he convinces us of what Canadian audiences have known all along; that he can give perhaps one of the strongest, most nuanced and award winning performance of any actor on the screen today.

There is little likelihood that more than 9 movies will be as well made, or as moving a film experience in 2007 than "Away From Her". Thus, it already makes my top 10. Do whatever you have to do to find it and see it.


Recommended: Yes

Movie Mood: None of the Above
Viewing Method: Sneak Preview at My Local Theater
Film Completeness: A few glitches, but mostly complete.
Worst Part of this Film: Nothing