This heartrending gem about living with Alzheimer's is based on a short story by Alice Munro and stars Julie Christie, Gordon Pinsent, Olympia Dukakis and Michael Murphy. Perhaps the biggest surprise here is that the film marks the directorial debut of the comparatively young actress Sarah Polley, who also penned the Munro adaptation. The film debuted to a favorable reception at last years Toronto Film Festival and is beautifully acted tender tale of a long and mostly solid marriage put to the test by the onset of Alzheimer's.

Julie Christie (who is still a remarkably beautiful woman) plays Fiona to Pinsent's Grant and we pick up the story just as Fiona is beginning to be troubled by her worsening forgetfulness. As the disease progresses the film begins to pack a considerable emotional punch, particularly as institutionalization rears its inevitable head. Pinsent who played Billy Pretty in Lasse Hallstrom's lamentably bad take on E. Annie Proulx's brilliant The Shipping News, makes the most of this great opportunity using space and silence, acting almost exclusively with his eyes. It's a great performance, he compels you to study his every tic, letting you feel not see the building anger and frustration with this horrifying dilemma. It's a turn on par with some of Jim Broadbent's similar work.

Christie is such a natural that you truly believe that this nightmare is actually happening to her. I liked that rather than railing against her condition she seems to accept it with what you believe to be characteristic grace and does her best to take it in stride. All of which plays into Grant's frustration, particularly when she finds a wheelchair bound soulmate (Michael Murphy) during her convalescence. As her condition worsens and she begins to take solace in her friendship with Murphy she increasingly loses touch with her husband who has also found someone with which to commiserate in the person of Olympia Dukakis.

Dukakis is at first abrasive and slow to warm to Grant, but their visits become more and more frequent and their mutual need grows apace. To spill anymore would be to spoil, though I will say I was quite satisfied and surprised by the ending. In terms of direction Polley has certainly started off in the shallow end of the pool, but the film never once smacks of the work of a first time director, so much so that you really don't even notice direction and that is the best kind of praise. The performances she evokes are solid across the board and never once did I find myself thinking that any part of the proceedings didn't ring perfectly true.