Still Alice (Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, Kate Bosworth) – If you have any worry about developing Alzheimer’s Disease or you fear what your old age could become, do not see this film. But for the grace of God … and all that.
Julianne Moore is brilliant as Alice Howland, a well-known linguistics professor at Columbia (this is different than the book) who starts to develop worrisome symptoms of a brain disease at age 50. She fears a brain tumor but it turns out to be early-onset Alzheimer’s. Her life is never the same. This movie is about the rapid, downward spiral of her life and its impact on her family – her professor husband (Alec Baldwin), her two daughters (a grown-up Kate Bosworth and a post-Twilight Kristen Stewart), and her son (Hunter Parrish).
There is little uplifting about Still Alice. Howland’s struggle to remain productive and useful is fruitless but she works valiantly at it. She tests herself, doesn’t want pity, and tries to fight. Her family is devastated. Her marriage is strong but Baldwin’s character has to keep working and is offered an attractive, lucrative offer half a continent away. What are they to do? The kids are loving and devoted but deep into their own lives. This is every family’s nightmare.
Julianne Moore is a brilliant actress and received her fifth Academy Award nomination for this performance. She has won almost all of the Best Actress awards up to now, and she is odds-on to win the Oscar. I am not sure her performance is clearly the best of the five nominated, but I am sure that the Academy voters will identify with this character and the tremendous pressure Moore faced to be able to “turn on” this character in its various stages of this disease while shooting non-sequentially.
Moore is one of those actresses who is not a natural beauty. Thus, with the right make-up, she can look gorgeous while, without much, she looks plain, drawn and pale. As Alice deteriorates, Moore’s physical appearance gets worse and worse. While I don’t know if an Alzheimer’s patient would physically deteriorate as fast as Alice mentally erodes, it serves a clear cinematic purpose.
As a movie experience, Still Alice is gut wrenching and tear jerking. It is a depress-o-fest. I dare you to try watching it and not thinking this could be you, your spouse, or your parent. So be prepared to walk away sobered but also impressed with Julianne Moore’s performance.