Julianne Moore will win this year’s Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of a professor faced with the early onset of Alzheimer’s in the otherwise pedestrian disease drama Still Alice. Moore’s character is a brainiac who is by nature a hyper-achiever, so the disease strips away both her memories and the identity that she has striven to mold for herself. Of course, once she receives the diagnosis, she harnesses both her brainpower and drive to prepare herself and her family for the eventualities. It’s a breathtakingly brilliant performance, with never a false note, as we see the professor slipping from the occasional memory lapse to the ravages of dementia.
The movie’s strongest scenes are those when she is floundering with the as yet undiagnosed affliction and when she tells her family about her diagnosis, with a particularly wrenching implication for her kids. Disease movies present a challenge for any filmmaker – how can the grimness of an irreversible and progressive illness be leavened by moments of redemption and humor so it’s not too painful to watch? And here, Still Alice falls short – the redemptive moments, most particularly a corny speech before Alzheimer’s advocates, just seem phony and manipulative. And the story walks right up to the edge of a better ending and then steps away.
The supporting cast, including Kristen Stewart, are all okay (although Alec Baldwin seems a bit checked out). All in all, there’s not much else here. But Julianne Moore might be enough.