Review: Still Alice

Julianne Moore stars as the 50ish title linguistics professor who is diagnosed with early onset dementia. A wife to research physician Alec Baldwin, and mother to aspiring actress Kristen Stewart, son Hunter Parrish, and pregnant elder daughter Kate Bosworth, Alice finds out that the disease is also genetic and suggests her kids get tested for it ASAP. Workaholic hubby Baldwin is frightened, initially tries to ignore reality, and obviously feels helpless watching this happen to the woman he loves. Meanwhile, we watch Alice dealing with the changes brought about by the disease to the very part of her body she most needs for her work, but also perhaps for her sense of self.

 

Although it’s worthy subject matter, a fine and Oscar-winning performance by Julianne Moore is the main reason of interest to this 2014 drama from writer-director pair Richard Glatzer (An ALS sufferer who passed away in early 2015) and Wash Westmoreland (They made several films together, and were also life partners). There are moments that don’t quite convince, and one plot element involving a computer that probably should’ve been nixed, but there’s also a lot here that will convince to a truly uncomfortably real and harrowing degree for anyone whose family or circle of friends have witnessed this most undignified (the dignity is in the sufferer’s struggle to fight the disease/illness), frightening, and frustrating of illnesses. For instance, having conversations around the person afflicted with Alzheimer’s/dementia as though they’re not really there is something I can attest to being true-to-life. It’s terrible, but unfortunately something people really do in these situations. It’s not meant to be cruel, it’s just that due to the nature of the illness, there comes a time when the person you knew no longer makes any sense and no longer really seems to be there except perhaps in small flashes of coherency.

 

Some will scoff at the idea that a linguistics professor is the one to get afflicted with this disease. Yes, it’s a bit corny, but I certainly welcome stories of academics with illnesses just as much as average Joe blue-collar workers, so that certainly wasn’t an issue for me. This story deserves to be told as much as any, as far as I’m concerned. Alzheimer’s and dementia doesn’t discriminate, it can fuck anybody up. There’s one absolutely terrifying scene where Moore gets lost on her daily run. It must be really, really scary to go through something like this and to lose track of where you are or where you were headed. It might seem for some that the illness acts far too quickly for some to find credible, but as the grandson of someone who had dementia, I can tell you it started fairly slow, but when it really hit, it hit hard and fast. It might be clichéd, but it’s not entirely ridiculous.

 

As for that one irritatingly contrived plot element, I understand the sentiment behind it, but it came off entirely like something out of a movie to me, which really annoyed me and took me out of it (It also opens up a whole can of moral worms that I’m not even gonna try to get into. All I’ll do is ask: Does the character in question find the video on purpose or through some kind of ignorance/accident? Because I think the answer to that question actually matters). Speaking of annoying: Kristen Stewart. I’ve occasionally seen her smile in recent years, which is truly remarkable. However, this film really does show that she simply isn’t an actress, and appears very, very uncomfortable appearing on screen. At all times in this film I felt like she was just being awkward Kristen Stewart reading her lines without actually portraying a genuine character. There’s nothing going on there aside from her trademark awkwardness. Given she actually plays an actress in the film it proves even funnier because in some scenes she’s meant to be just reading lines as the character is rehearsing, but that’s how Stewart herself seems the entire film! I’ve never come across anyone who seemed like they were less comfortable and invested in the profession they willingly chose to pursue. That may not be the truth, but it feels that way to me in everything she has appeared in after “Panic Room” (which was the last film I believed her in), and having her share the screen with a genuine talent like Moore only magnifies the issue. She could get away with it in the “Twilight” films to an extent (‘coz, y’know…) but not in something weightier like this.

 

There can be no doubt that Julianne Moore is really terrific in the lead. She’s perfect casting, and although it took me a little while to jump on the Julianne Moore bandwagon due to some chilly early performances (I still find her occasionally annoying these days in films like “The Kids Are All Right”), I can’t deny her talent and she seems absolutely lovely off-screen, too. Here she very movingly conveys the character’s struggle with a disease/illness that attacks the very thing she needs for her work, but also helps in making her who she is: Her brain. Moore probably deserved this win, and not just because it’s a disease-of-the-week film or whatever. Alec Baldwin, meanwhile is also really rock-solid. Yes, his casting leads one to perhaps cast suspicion on his character who frequently works late, but that’s less an issue with Baldwin’s acting ability (which, on his day, is damn terrific), and more to do with his reputation and occasional typecasting, perhaps, which really can’t be helped. Y’know, it almost seems kinda wrong that Baldwin hasn’t won an Oscar yet. I know he floundered a bit as a romantic leading man in the early 90s, but in recent times he has developed into a truly reliable, sometimes even scene-stealing character actor.

 

A solid movie, very moving in parts, but not always convincing, often clichéd, and also very short. It feels like Kate Bosworth’s and Alec Baldwin’s characters needed at least one more scene with Moore before the end of the film. Still, it’s a film that will get you thinking and feeling about issues related to life, death, self, and memory. It will especially resonate (at least from time to time) with anyone whose life or loves have been affected by this illness, and the genetic aspect to this particular story is especially heartbreaking. Moore is outstanding. The screenplay is based on a novel by Lisa Genova.

 

Rating: B-