Review of Still Alice (2014) by Foxgrove — 10 Mar 2015

Handicapped by an inauspicious trailer which affords it the injustice of looking like a disease of the week TV movie, this is actually a small but surprisingly well-wrought drama. Oscar winner Julianne Moore gives an affectingly subtle performance as a 50 year old woman suffering the onslaught of Alzheimer’s. Through the course of the running time she manages to convey the effects of this terrible disease without resorting to histrionics or mawkishness. Her rapid deterioration is utterly believable and the screenplay manages to avoid the obvious clichés that this kind of movie can be prone to.

As her daughter, Lydia, Kristen Stewart does a great job of holding her own when on screen with Moore. The film successfully paints the picture of a fractious relationship between mother and daughter which only begins to repair due to the unforeseen and tragic circumstances. Only Alec Baldwin lets the side down with a bland and colourless turn as Moore’s unemotional husband. However, Moore is too good an actress to let him sabotage her film.