While Gradually Losing Her Memory, a Woman Tries to Remain Who She Is

Julianne Moore as Dr. Alice Howland in "Still Alice" 

In her many years of working in film, Julianne Moore has become one of the most gifted and hardworking actresses in the business.  Her roles in films such as “The Kids Are All Right,” “A Single Man,” “Magnolia,” “The Big Lebowski,” and “Boogie Nights,” to name a few, have made her a prominent presence in cinema.  

In “Still Alice,” directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, Moore’s talent takes what could have been a typical disease-of-the-week movie and elevates it to a film that sensitively handles the topic of Alzheimer’s disease. 

Dr. Alice Howland (Moore) is a highly respected professor of linguistics at Columbia University.  After experiencing some lapses in her memory, she visits a neurologist and is told that she has early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.  Although her memory is slowly slipping away, her husband (Alec Baldwin) and children (Kate Bosworth, Hunter Parrish, and Kristen Stewart) do all that they can to help their mother through this challenging time.

Moore’s performance is one that presents an emotional depiction of someone whose mental health is steadily declining.  The regression in her character’s memory is very heartbreaking to watch, all because of Moore’s ability to show what her character has to struggle through.  To see Alice go from being a renowned educator to someone suffering from Alzheimer’s is a transition that Moore displays convincingly and movingly. 

The cinematography by Denis Lenoir makes a very effective use of having the background of images go out of focus as a way for audiences to have a better feel for what Alice is experiencing when she loses her grip on her memory.  This technical aspect is used very well in a scene early on in the film when Alice goes for a jog around Columbia’s campus, and then stops and has to look around to remember where she is.  It’s a doleful scene because of how her familiarity with her workplace is starting to leave her, and it’s made all the more potent because of Lenoir’s camerawork. 

The screenplay by Glatzer and Westmoreland, which is based on the novel of the same name by Lisa Genova, fully shows the impact that Alice’s affliction has on her and her family.  Although the movie is only just over an hour and a half, it feels as though the screenplay completely captures Alice’s passage from first experiencing her symptoms to experiencing the complete effects of the disease, never seeming like it skips anything when showing the changes that Alice goes through.

One of the many aspects of the story that I respect is how the narrative doesn't choose to end on an inspirational note right after Alice gives a speech at an Alzheimer’s conference.  I’m not saying that I didn’t wish she could get better; I’m just saying that under the circumstances that Alice faces throughout the film, the story is much more powerful because of how it shows the total mental decline that comes with Alice’s illness and how she and her family handle it. 

Directors Glatzer and Westmoreland are able to keep this film from seeming like an average television movie because of how delicately they handle the topic of Alzheimer’s, never going overboard with their portrayal of the disease.  Along with the performances from the cast, the directors are able to construct a genuine portrait of an individual living with this illness.

Final grade: A