Fiona and Grant (Christie and Pinsent) have been married for 45 years, and are trying to come to terms with the fact that Fiona is showing the early stages of Alzheimer's. Her pragmatism is hard for Grant to accept, but he eventually lets her move into a first-rate nursing home near their rural lake house. Then when Fiona develops an emotional attachment to another patient (Murphy), Grant must work through the ramifications with the medical staff (Crewson and Thomson), as well as the man's wife (Dukakis).

Actress-turned-writer-director Polley has a strongly lyrical filmmaking style. The script is strikingly intelligent--engaging, provocative, emotionally resonant and elegantly understated. And all of those adjectives describe her directing style as well. The imagery is poetic and striking, from the snowy landscapes to the subtly telling faces. Nothing is contrived or forced; this is an unpretentious story that digs into human connections and motivations, and the nature of unconditional love.

Christie is of course amazing in the focal role, never taking the obvious approach to a scene and maintaining Fiona's inner light, even as it changes shades. "Sometimes there's something delicious in oblivion," she says, significantly. Her chemistry with Pinsent is superb, especially in the scenes in which Fiona doesn't remember who Grant is. Meanwhile, Dukakis is lively and likeable, and Pinsent holds the film together beautifully.

Along the way, Polley and her cast somehow manage to avoid sentimentality, even though the film is heavily emotive and actually quite downbeat. Although the nursing home is seriously gorgeous, with an extremely attentive staff, it's still horrible. Even though the film sparks with personality and finds moments that are sweet, funny and sexy, it's also profoundly heartbreaking. But Polley never allows it to mope; she invests the situations and characters with an involving complexity and a raw, earthy optimism. And in the end we can find a surprising resonance in the story, even if we've never been through anything like this. That's Polley's most notable achievement.

themes, language

1.Feb.07