Review: Still Alice

How many of us have experienced the occasional lapse of memory? Or perhaps been at a loss for a particular word? Do we give these odd moments a second thought? Or merely chalk them up as brain blips or signs of growing older? For Alice Howland (Julianne Moore), a highly respected linguistics professor, not remembering the next word in her lecture or momentarily forgetting her surroundings become alarming breaches, leading the 50-year-old wife and mother of three to consult a neurologist Dr. Benjamin (Stephen Kunken).

Her MRI and bloodwork rule out a brain tumour, but the memory tests Dr. Benjamin conducted indicate sporadic memory impairment and evidence of a decline in memory function. Alice initially conceals her condition from her family but after she introduces herself twice to her sons' latest girlfriend, she allows her husband John (Alec Baldwin) to accompany her on her next visit to Dr. Benjamin, who confirms that she has early-onset Alzheimer's and that the disease is genetic.

Her children are predictably rattled by the news. Married lawyer Anna (Kate Bosworth) worries about passing the gene to her unborn children, doctor Tom (Hunter Parrish) does what he can to offer comfort, and aspiring actress Lydia (Kristen Stewart), the black sheep of the lot, attempts to understand her mother's condition without patronising it. Still Alice notes the various ways her children and her husband cope with her rapidly deteriorating situation, but their stories are peripheral to Alice's.

Husband and wife directing team Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, adapting Lisa Genova's novel, keep Alice and her point of view front and center. Glatzer himself lives with ALS, another degenerative disease, and there's a sense of the personal in the way Alice experiences her own decline. The directors handle the drama with impressive restraint, their screenplay skirting sentimentality, certain words or sentences often landing like devastating bombs. The word "former" prefacing Alice's introduction as a linguistics professor wrenches as does John's "It was a month ago" when Alice finds the cell phone she thought she was looking for a day earlier.

Moore is so extraordinary here. You can see how her smile is just a tiny bit forced, how she leans in just a fraction too forward as she concentrates on everything happening around her, struggling to stay connected. One touching scene has her speaking at an Alzheimer's conference, highlighting the words on the paper with a marker so she doesn't lose her place and repeat herself. Her nervousness is a marked contrast to the confident and unflappable woman we first encountered. Moore conveys Alice's decline so purely that it's almost scary - note the increasing blankness behind her eyes as Alice slowly disappears within.

Still Alice

Directed by: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland

Written by: Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland; adapted from Lisa Genova's novel

Starring: Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, Kate Bosworth, Hunter Parrish, Stephen Kunken