Still Alice

The art of losing isn't hard to master. — Elizabeth Bishop

Renowned linguistics professor Dr. Alice Howland (the always-extraordinary Julianne Moore, also at the Festival in Maps to the Stars) knows the truth of Bishop's poetic insight as well as anyone. Diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's, Alice learns the art of losing every day.

At first, Alzheimer's means losing her way around the streets of Manhattan, but soon — far too soon for her husband and three grown children — it's much more. But even as it puts her marriage to the test, Alice's new condition does provide the opportunity to reconnect with her youngest daughter, Lydia (Kristen Stewart), with whom she's never seen eye-to-eye. The fact that Alice is a lifelong student of language and communication proves a powerful resource in her fight against mental decline, but it also means that she has a uniquely troubling understanding of what's to come.

Directing duo Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland (The Last of Robin Hood) have a keen knack for rendering individual experience, and in Still Alice they find an ideal subject for their talents. Though other films about Alzheimer's have prioritized its heartbreaking effect on relationships, Glatzer and Westmoreland turn their camera on Alice, detailing her slow decline — and the inventive tactics she employs to delay it — with affecting precision. With impressive performances from the film's supporting cast, which includes Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart and Kate Bosworth, Still Alice will break your heart. But it will also remind you that love is all around you, still.

MICHÈLE MAHEUX