Away From Her: Critic Reviews

A tremulous adaptation of acclaimed Canadian storyteller Alice Munro's much-tougher-minded short fiction about love and Alzheimer's, The Bear Came Over the Mountain.

In a refreshingly direct, unassuming manner, Away From Her considers two great human mysteries: the persistence of love and the workings of the brain.

An outstanding film.

Does the finest job of any film in painting a believable portrait of aging, capturing the sadness, confusion, anxiety and defiance of the early stages of dementia.

Rarely has love at any age been depicted so honestly on screen. For such a fully realized portrait to be created by a 28-year-old first-time director is even more remarkable.

A straightforward but engrossing drama about what love is worth when memory is gone.

[A] superbly tacit chamber piece.

Every actress who's ever frozen her emotions with Botox should be forced to watch this film before returning to the plastic surgeon's office. It's the lines in Christie's face -- deeply etched, deeply earned -- that make her so heartbreakingly lovely.

A feature film that's often astringent on the surface, yet deeply and memorably stirring.

Sarah Polley's sad, wise and simply dazzling directorial effort beams with warmth.

Upon seeing Away From Her again, I'm content with my sense memory. I'm even more pleased with how much of this fine film's nuance and detail feel fresh.

A twilight-of-life love story, one that harshly demolishes our romantic notions of love and loyalty, then replaces them with something deeper and, finally, more consoling.

The movie, [Sarah] Polley's feature debut, is a small-scale triumph that could herald a great career.

Away From Her isn't just a portrait of Alzheimer's. For a generation that doesn't have a lot of marital role models, it's also a lyrical portrait of what it means to stick with a person for the long run. There are no easy answers.

Bergmanesque and beautiful, set in a wintry landscape fitfully lit by one woman's flickering awareness and one man's long-term, stubborn love, Away from Her is one of the most remarkable and moving love stories the movies have recently given us.

It's Christie who places this powerful love story about the cruelties of aging within hailing distance of Leo McCarey's sublime Make Way for Tomorrow.

A remarkable character study from actress-turned-director Sarah Polley, Away From Her is a triumph for Christie, who like Helen Mirren and Diane Keaton, grows lovelier and more compelling with every performance.

A wise and tender Alzheimer's drama.

In Away From Her, four of the best actors in the world turn material worthy of their talents into the best movie of the year so far. The result is moving the way the best-written literature can be, telling us something about ourselves.

I have seen few films in recent years as emotionally engrossing and edifying. It is not to be missed by any moviegoer professing to be looking for something different.

A heartbreaking and memorable cinematic experience.

A gracefully wrought study of a long-term marriage being wedged apart by Alzheimer's.

I think it's one of this year's finest and most memorable films.

Beautifully written, from an Alice Munro short story, this movie directed by an actress rarely missteps, even when it bravely includes the dark humor inherent in this situation.

As terrific as Christie's performance is, it's the superb Pinsent who's left to register most of the internal emotional turbulence as a reserved man who no longer shares a past with the woman he's spent his life with.