2014 | Dir. Richard Glatzer & Wash Westmoreland | 109 Minutes
"The Art of Losing isn't hard to master: so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster."
Brilliant Columbia University linguistics professor and mother of three, at age 50 Alice Howland begins to lose her intellect to a rare form of early-onset Alzheimer's Disease. As Alice's memory and other cognitive functions begin to rapidly erode, she and her family struggle to come to terms with their new reality.
Based on the novel by Lisa Genova, Still Alice is carried by a tour-de-force performance from Julianne Moore playing the title character. Moore is heartbreaking as Alice, convincingly articulate communicating complex academic concepts and jargon in a lecture scene at the start of the film, and just as convincing playing a barely functioning Alice before the credits roll. The most moving sequence comes towards the end of the picture, with Moore doing an amazing job playing against a recording of herself, wherein Alice attempts to carry out a secret contingency plan to end her own life established earlier in the film.
The supporting cast prominently features Alec Baldwin as Alice's husband John, and Kristen Stewart as her younger daughter Lydia. Baldwin turns in a serviceable, though somewhat run-of-the-mill performance. Stewart's role is a bit more challenging, at odds with her mother's wishes from the start but willing to accept and become her caretaker in the end, she manages to handle the role well but doesn't offer much in terms of emotional versatility.
The film offers a blow-by-blow depiction of the devastating effects of Alzheimer's Disease, represented in several sequences with by creative cinematography. As Alice's perception becomes hazier, the camera shots become blurred and her surroundings are obscured. The film presents the disease as a sort of soft death sentence, without becoming too heavy-handed in its message about how we treat those suffering from it. It is at times difficult to watch but Still Alice features one of the finest performances from Moore to date.
FRAGMENTS
- The film pairs Julianne Moore with Alec Baldwin - the two had hilarious chemistry when Moore was a guest star playing one of Jack Donaghy's old flames on 30 Rock
- I can't help but wonder if the film would have been slightly better if a more capable actress had played Alice's daughter Lydia - To date it seems Kristen Stewart's face can show one expression and one expression only
