Jamie passion and passionfruit!

A highly intelligent look at the relationship between a husband and wife of 44 years when the wife succumbs to Alzheimers and has to be admitted to a special home.  Intelligent and indescribably sad at the same time.  It is not a film to enjoy but rather a sobering and perceptive look at what people go through with this illness.  To new director Sarah Polley’s credit, we are spared clichés, gore and gratuitous embarrassment and we actually confront the sort of reality that spouses face in these situations complete with the fact that short term memory may fail but long term memory lasts longer.

Julie Christie is superb in a nuanced performance as Fiona, the victim but almost as impressive is Gordon Pinsent as her husband Grant who is at first all control and gets progressively lost himself.  Olympia Dukakis does a very nice job of the wife of a fellow resident who helps Grant get his head around the situation.

Polley not only directs with incredible confidence and tact but writes a mean script too, giving us a literary backing to the script which fits and does not seem trite. She picks up on many almost unspoken details in the couple’s past that enriches this film.  Photography and music accompany well in this very well assured and poignant film.  Not much fun but well worth the watch.

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