Directed by: Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland
Written by: Richard Glatzer (screenplay), Lisa Genova (novel)
Starring: Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, Kate Bosworth, Hunter Parrish
Still Alice is increasingly immersive, with dynamic camera work and layered soundscapes replicating Alice’s perceptions for the audience, and conveying her alarmingly rapid decline.
In comparison, Baldwin’s John is stunningly bland, though Bosworth excels herself despite an underwritten role. Moore eclipses the film’s overall quality; her gradual transformation highlighted when Alice watches a video of her younger self. The two Moores sharing the screen are almost irreconcilable.
After Alice, Lydia (Stewart) is the best-realised character, and the compelling nature of her scenes with Moore suggest exclusive focus on this relationship that could have made for a superior film.
Much from Genova’s novel is dialled down: academics, characters’ flaws, and emotional intensity. Intellectually, the sadness is undeniable, but Still Alice only rarely fulfils its potential for moving the viewer.
SCENE A LOT OF FILMS 