Review of Still Alice (2014) by Peter Z — 15 Mar 2015

This was a good film, a great performance by JM and KS. I found their relationship the most interesting and believable. I find AB to be a turn off and in addition I didn't feel a completely believable relationship/marriage there. One scene sticks out in my mind: this woman did it all, 3 children, a top academic in her field and she was scrubbing a pot with no gloves on, somehow this annoyed me and seemed unbelievable. Why do women have to do everything?

I found the editing to be a bit too jumpy and some of the relationships and interactions seemed too cliche. I found it hard to believe someone would choose to go ahead and have children knowing they would eventually die from early alzheimers, maybe I missed the timing on this: JA eldest daughter who became pregnant with twins.

I was disappointed that her family was so detached and her hubby abandoned her in the end. The scene where he discusses moving to Minneapolis is very sad- she basically tells him he doesn't want to watch what is happening to her and spend time with her, she had asked him to do this before she starts to lose more of her brain function and he always uses work as an excuse. Not long after that we see that she has deteriorated further and we wonder if his cruelty to her and his inability to fully be there for her hastened the decline.

In the end when the final stages of the disease are only beginning, we see that her youngest daughter(KS), who has been less successful and who is an actress, not an academic, compulsively worried about intelligence and success, is the one who has the strength to be there for her mother and to help her through this.

I think it's wonderful someone wrote about this and made a film about it. I can't imagine how horrible this is for everyone involved.

I also found it very interesting in the diagnosis phase. I had been asked similar questions by a neurologist recently who I saw for vertigo. I couldn't remember the things she wanted me to remember and I couldn't do anything backwards, lol. I'm sure I don't have early alzheimer's thank god. I do wonder if I should do a petscan though since my mri was normal too.

I wanted to know more about Alice, who she was before this disease hit her. I wanted to know more about the diagnosis. I felt like it was all crammed into too short a space. She and her family put so much importance on intelligence and articulation and then her hubby abandoned her, very sad. This is a depressing film to say the least.