Still Alice tells the story of a talented Columbia professor who’s married with three kids and diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Alice (Julianne Moore) plays Words with Friends regularly, but can’t remember the right words to say during lectures.
Her supervisor refuses to pretend that everything’s normal when students start writing less than favourable reviews of her classes. In a performance review, Alice feels obliged to confess that she has a medical condition. Despite urging her supervisor to let her continue teaching, she must give up her teaching gig long before she anticipated retiring.
Rather than showing a series of hospital appointments, the film focuses on Alice’s DIY coping method. For example, she runs around the college campus and uses her iPhone to write notes and set reminders. No matter how afraid she gets while anticipating her future, Alice puts on an optimistic front for her family, who is quick to offer support.
Memory loss is common among the elderly, but few films strive to offer such accurate portrayals of how Alzheimer’s affects patients, let alone middle-aged women. Still Alice sets the bar high for future films about Alzheimer’s and deserves every award it wins.