STILL ALICE | Film Review (NO SPOILERS)

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*A little bit of a change from Best Picture nominated films, with the film that stars Julianne Moore, tipped for Best Actress*

Title: Still Alice
Director: Richard Glatzer & Wash Westmoreland
Starring: Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart
Originally Released: 2014
Running Time: 101 mins / 1 hr 41 mins

Premise. One woman and her close family's struggle with coming to terms with and living with alzheimer's disease.

Thoughts going in: This is going to make me cry. I know it.

Thoughts immediately after: I literally sobbed.

The Film: The film itself is a fantastic portrayal of the effects of alzheimer's, whilst touching on sentimentality in its opening, by the film's close you feel the depiction is heartfelt and true. The film has parts of beauty in its imagery, the beach and Moore's costume and hair are aesthetically divine. As Alice struggles with the disease her clothes become a mix-matched pairing, and her make-up disappears. It is a standard trope of anyone going through a hard time in film, let's make this person look exhausted by wiping their make-up off and messing up their hair. Whilst this can usually mask a shaky performance, Moore captures Alice's fragility and spiral downwards beautifully. Time is an issue in the film, we have little concept of where we are, but we're on Alice's journey with her, and with that we are constantly reminded of the film being incredibly personal, as we are with Alice throughout. The film acquires and exploits tropes common within drama films; the shaky camerawork as things become manic, the intensified music. Whilst it is obvious in its execution, it still remained separate from sentimentality. Whilst films such as My Sister's Keeper aim right at the emotions, I feel this portrayal was far more dignified and capturing. The ending was absolutely perfect and felt completely right.

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The Cast: Julianne Moore is a class act. It's no secret that I am fan, she's never disappointed me, but in Still Alice she completely out-performs everything she's previously done. Her emotions are so raw and true that my heart was breaking. There's a pivotal moment in the film in which she reads a speech about her disease, and it had me in tears. There's a relation you feel towards Moore's portrayal, and whilst the film at times seemed to want us to continuously sympathise and pity Alice, Moore maintained the dignity of character that makes you respect her instead. Baldwin was okay, nothing really special, same with the rest of the cast. Stewart was a mumbling mess at first, but her interactions with Moore's character were some of the most important moments, depicting the extent the disease has on relationships and character.

Final Thoughts: Really good film with an exceptional performance with one of my favourite Hollywood stars. I can't build on what I've already said, other than I'm heartbroken.

★★★★☆