Still Alice

Tonight I saw Still Alice, starring Julianne Moore and Alec Baldwin.

Alice (Moore) is a linguistics professor who has just turned 50 when she realizes she's becoming very forgetful. To be on the safe side, she begins working with a neurologist, who slowly rules out strokes, a tumor, etc. leaving her with the diagnosis of early onset Alzheimer's Disease.

Alice takes the news as well as can be expected, but harbors horrible guilt over the fact she may have passed the same gene on to her children. Her husband John (Baldwin), is a pillar of support, never leaving her side, never making her feel a burden.

Things are more complicated with her youngest daughter, Lydia (Kristen Stewart), who she has always wished would do more with her life than pursue an acting career. They bicker and battle even after the diagnosis, though they clearly both love one another very much.

It's a solid movie about a horrible ailment with a very authentic fictional family demonstrating how hard it can be in every aspect of the patient's deterioration. Events like this are every person's worst nightmare, but somehow we keep watching films and reading books about them, perhaps to prepare ourselves in case it strikes someone we love.

The performance by Julianne Moore here is predictably phenomenal. She communicates the strength of her character well, while also showing the complexity of her vulnerability as her condition progresses. Baldwin is also great in what is perhaps his most understated dramatic role.

It's not an easy film to watch; nor enjoyable, but will serve as a catalyst for tears if you're in place where that sort of release would be welcome.

A piece of cinema that will be difficult to forget.

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