MovieChat Forums > Away from Her (2007) Discussion > Aren't we missing the point a bit?

Aren't we missing the point a bit?

posted 13 years ago by motivator52
4 replies | jump to latest

I think the whole point of the movie was to show that people are NOT perfect and when it comes to alzeheimers there rarely are happy endings.

grant was clearly a flawed individual - there was the real suggestion there that he was prone to cheating on her and similarly the ending suggested too that julie christie's character may have been playing head games on him by exaggerating things so she could 'punish' him.

i think sarah polley, the director, wants us to make our own mind up on the two of them. one person watching it may come away thinking 'god that grant guy was an awful cheater and by the end was dying to get rid of her so he could shack up with olympia dukakis' and another person watching it could think 'grant saw after much observation that he had effectively lost her mentally and that he wanted the other guy returned to the nursing home just to make his wife happy and bring her some level of peace'

i loved the film - despite the fact that it didn't have a clear happy ending! hollywood is obsessed with happy endings and tying everything up in a neat little bow and i applaud Polley for having the guts to not create a happy one.

this film primarily made the viewer think about the disease and of it's effects on not just the sufferer but there extended family too. my auntie is in the latest stages of alzeheimers - i'm grateful to this film for bringing the disease to the attention of the public. and we have a great film so well done.

Y'know, kid... you got a helluva knack for killin' a conversation

[–] amazon423 13 years ago

At the time this movie came out Sandra Day O'Connor's husband was hospitalized for Alzheimers' and fell in love with another patient at the facility. She said it kind of hurt but happens sometimes with dementia patients. They want love like everyone else and, having forgotten their previous love due to dementia, find it where they live now. That need is one of the last to be lost. Julie Christie's character portrayed that very well. No one knows how fast this disease will progress and hers progressed very fast. My mother passed away due to this insidious disease. We were separated for one hour when she had to be taken to the hospital and she forgot who I was. It took her 20 minutes to realize who I was. I think that Grant was looking for a sympathetic ear and the other lady was going through the same thing. Naturally they gravitated toward each other and it progressed into a relationship. My personal opinion is that not to judge someone in that situation unless you have been there yourself.

[–] lousvr 11 years ago

As I commented on in another thread...
People are mostly concern about themselves first. Not in an obvious way they can detect.. and still love and care for someone greatly.
Life can be difficult.
Think for a moment.. UNLESS you die beforehand.. this is where you'll be living the final part of your life !!.... Kinda kicks you in the face huh?..
There's no escaping it.... wow..
Pray for us sinners now and hour of our death Amen.

I sleep now.

[–] henrimaine 10 years ago

julie christie's character may have been playing head games on him by exaggerating things so she could 'punish' him

I don't think Julie Christie was exaggerating her condition. At the end of the film she just had a temporary improvement in her condition, just like the nurse had foretold, but overall she was only getting worse.

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

...and when it comes to alzeheimers there rarely are happy endings.

I reckon in terms of movies about Alzheimer's disease, this ending is about as happy as one could expect, for all concerned.

grant was clearly a flawed individual - there was the real suggestion there that he was prone to cheating on her

I think there is a suggestion that deep in their 45 year old past together, there may have been an indiscretion on Grant's that hurt Fiona, more than he may have figured upon. However I don't think he was a serial offender and he clearly loved her very much.

the ending suggested too that julie christie's character may have been playing head games on him by exaggerating things so she could 'punish' him.

Grant fleetingly seized on that idea, in the vain hope that Fiona might come to her "senses" and return home with him, but we know it's not true, and he finally accepts the reality of the situation.