Film of the week: Still Alice

COULSDON COLLEGE: MEDIA TEXT INFORMATION SHEET

TITLE:

Still Alice

YEAR OF PROD:

2014

TYPE:

FILM

TELEVISION

DOC.

MUSIC

ADVERT

MUSIC VID.

OTHER:

DIRECTOR

Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland

PRODUCER

James Brown, Pamela Koffler, Lex Lutzus

WRITER

Lisa Genova (novel), Richard Glatzer, Wash Westmoreland (screenplay)

PRODUCTION COMPANY

Lutzus-Brown, Killer Films, Big Indie Pictures, Shriver Films

KEY CAST /ARTIST

Julianne Moore (Alice), Kate Bosworth (Anna), Shane McRae (Charlie), Hunter Parrish (Tom), Alec Baldwin (John), Kristen Stewart (Lydia), Stephen Kunken (Dr. Benjamin)

KEY CREW

Music: Ilan Eshkeri, DP: Denis Lenoir, Editing: Nicolas Chaudeurge

GENRE

Drama,

BUDGET

$5 million

BOX OFFICE

$41.8 million

THEMES

Alzheimer’s, memory, family, love, change, acceptance, defeat, frustration, heartbreak, disability

AWARDS

27 awards, e.g. Julianne Moore won an Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA for best performance. She won 13 more awards for best performance so nearly all of the films awards were for her.

NARRATIVE: “Alice Howland is a renowned linguistics professor happily married with three grown children. All that begins to change when she strangely starts to forget words and then more. When her doctor diagnoses her with Early-onset Alzheimer's Disease, Alice and her family's lives face a harrowing challenge as this terminal degenerative neurological ailment slowly progresses to an inevitable conclusion they all dread. Along the way, Alice struggles to not only to fight the inner decay, but to make the most of her remaining time to find the love and peace to make simply living worthwhile.” My opinion: Words can’t even describe how much I loved this film, it was honestly a masterpiece. A story so beautifully written and performed that I still feel sad now so it has had a lasting impact on me. Julianne Moore was phenomenal, her changing state of memory was made clearly evident and she was able to portray the emotions her character was feeling perfectly. Some parts were so upsetting that it was hard to watch and the speech scene was just wow, amazing. I think it was so impactful because Alzheimer’s could happen to any of your loved ones and it made you think that this could happen to someone close to me which personally, made me even more upset. Also, I felt so connected to the narrative and characters that I felt Alice was almost part of my family so I was experiencing the heartbreak along with her family and when the film ended (incredible ending), I had so many emotions running through me. So, if you couldn’t tell by now, I loved Still Alice and if you are reading this right now then you should stop and go and watch the film, there is no doubt you will love it and if you don't like it then you have no heart and maybe you should re-watch it, ok thanks.  11/10

KEY SCENES: ·         Opening scene- birthday celebration at restaurant- Alice is perfectly fine ·         Alice forgets her words during a lecture ·         Alice gets lost during her run ·         Doctor tests Alice on her memory ·         Doctor breaks it to Alice that she is likely to have Alzheimer’s Disease ·         Alice tells John about her Disease ·         Alice breaks the news to her children, tells them there is a 50/50 chance they may have it ·         Beach scene with Alice and John ·         Alice’s speech on Alzheimer’s ·         Alice gets lost in her own home ·         Final scene “love” ·         Alice tries to take the tablets, following the video ·         Lydia asks Alice “what is it like?”

COMPARABLES: Do you remember love.  Maybe 50/50 and The Theory of Everything.

PROGRESSION OF KEY CONTRIBUTORS: Together, Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland have previously directed: The Last of Robin Hood (2013), Echo Park, L.A. (2006) and The Fluffer (2001). Very sadly, Richard passed away this March so Still Alice was his last film. Julianne Moore has progressed to act in: Mockingjay- Part 1 (2014), Seventh Son (2014), Maggie’s plan (2015), Freeheld (2015) and Mockingjay- Part 2 (2015).

ANY OTHER BUSINESS? “Co-director Richard Glatzer suffers from ALS and can't speak. He directed the film using a text to speech app on an iPad. Both Moore and Stewart dedicated their "Ice Bucket Challenge" to Glatzer. The directors of the film, Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer were unable to attend the Oscars to see Julianne Moore win, due to the fact that Glatzer was suffering from ALS and his condition had deteriorated significantly.”