Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most terrifying diseases in existence. An illness which slowly destroys people from the inside, robbing them of their memories, personality and body functions in a painful way until nothing but a shell of their former selves remain…followed shortly by death. In Still Alice, Alice (Julianne Moore) is diagnosed with a rare version of Alzheimer’s, one which occurs at a much younger age and has a 50/50 chance of being passed onto her kids. Alice claims she would rather been diagnosed with cancer, a statement I wholeheartedly understand. Still Alice is an effective showcasing of a person struggling to maintain their life and personality for as long as possible. As one might expect, Still Alice is far from a happy film; yet while the overall tone is downbeat, Still Alice successfully avoids becoming a sappy Lifetime tearjerker thanks to its editing, balancing, and performances, particularly from Julianne Moore.
The film is praise worthy for its ability to balance tragedy with touching; Still Alice never falls too deep into depressing territory, addressing each heartbreak with a scene of heartwarming. Alice is devastated to learn of her illness, but is surrounded by caring family for comfort and strength. She loses her job as a linguistics professor from confusion over the subject, yet delivers an inspiring speech at an Alzheimer’s conference while overcoming several mishaps. There’s a scene where Alice congratulates a stage actor on a terrific show, unaware the actor is her youngest daughter Lydia. Lydia (Kristen Stewart) later moves back home to provide additional care for her progressively disoriented mother, now barely able to form sentences. In a very poignant scene, Alice’s husband (Alec Baldwin) states how much of a better person Lydia is compared to him, before breaking down in tears.
Still Alice’s best quality is its acting, which allows the previously mentioned scenes to work at their most compelling without falling into sappiness or overacting. Julianne Moore is spot-on as Alice; a person who’s lived a fulfilling life in career and family, now terrified of losing it all, yet fully determined to fight her illness every step of the way...even if it means drastic measures. Moore’s able to effectively bring her character into the realms of realism, even adding black-comedy to her situation (during her early stages, Alice comes home late from a jog with her husband worried sick; “You've been gone for two hours!” he exclaims, with Alice flatly replying “Sorry I forgot…I have Alzheimer’s.”) To provide effective comedy in such a role is a true showcasing of Moore’s acting abilities, and while I still find Witherspoon's performance in Wild superior, I’m pleased Moore’s role won best actress at the Oscars. The rest of the performances are similarly well acted, with highlights being Baldwin as Alice’s husband and Stewart as her daughter. I feel it necessary to emphasize on Stewart considering the bad rep she has with the public eye, primarily thanks to her role in the Twilight series (of which I've never seen). From personal viewing, I've never disliked a performance from Stewart (emphasis on how I've never seen the Twilight series); Into the Wild, Adventure Land even Snow White and the Huntsmen all feature decent to solid performances from her. I find no good reason to believe Stewart isn't a capable actor (though she could definitely improve on her choice of roles), with Still Alice being one of her better performances to date.
There are some nitpicks I have with Still Alice; for one the film wastes a wonderfully interesting subplot involving the passing of Alice’s disease to her kids. In an emotionally devastating scene, Alice finds out there’s a 50% chance her children have genetically inherited the Alzheimer’s gene. Not only does Alice have to live with a horrific disease, but know (for as long as she can remember) her children are possibly doomed to the same fate. Such a subplot provides the film with many intriguing opportunities, which Still Alice seems to take advantage of at first; having Alice painfully inform her kids while apologizing for the burden she’s placed on them. The two oldest get testing to see if they have the gene (Lydia decides she doesn't want to know), where unfortunately the oldest Anna (Kate Bosworth) comes back positive. Anna informs Alice via phone call of the results, sounding in a state of shock while fearing her unborn twins may also inherit the disease. These scenes are as heartbreaking as they are effective and thought-provoking, yet sadly all but disappear from the rest of the plot (save for the occasional brief mention). I would have loved more scenes involving her children dealing with such consequences, such as Anna’s handling of her unavoidable fate (have her memories become more precious than ever), or Lydia with the haunting anxiety of whether she’s a gene carrier. Being only an hour, 40 minutes, Still Alice could have easily devoted 5-10 extra minutes towards such an intriguing subplot.
