So you know how The Notebook has this following that hails it as the greatest movie of all time? Yeah, I don’t really care much for it. That may come as a shock. However, what I did find incredibly compelling about it was the story featuring the elderly couple dealing with Alzheimer’s which served as the premise for the romance story between the Gosling/McAdams characters. I thought that if the whole movie had been about those two adorable old folks that I would have really enjoyed it, or found it tragically interesting. Then I saw Away From Her and had these wishes granted.
It’s the debut from director Sarah Polley, who, if you haven’t heard of her before, is pretty awesome at making movies. If we accept her premise that all romance is actually tragedy, then this is one of those cases, described by Louis CK, wherein we have a best case romantic scenario. Two people were able to find each other and come together in love and marriage, live many happy years together, and then what do they gain from all this good fortune? Heartbreak. Gordon Pinsent has to deal with the loss of his partner played by Julie Christie, not in death at this point but in a tragic disease that has robbed her of the person she once was, and the life they once had together. Makes you think maybe there really is no such thing as happily ever after.
Continue reading on the next page…