Polley swaps acting for writing and directing in adaptation of Munro
story

Lee-Anne Goodman
Canadian Press

Thursday, August 31, 2006


TORONTO (CP) - Sarah Polley is a young woman, just 27, and a
relative newlywed. Yet Alice Munro's short story about an aging
couple dealing with Alzheimer's disease after a long and
occasionally troubled marriage was enthralling to her.

"I am in the early years of marriage and I loved the idea of
examining in a real way what marriage looks like after that long and
what does happen after you fail each other and there have been
obstacles," Polley said in a recent interview as she raced to put
the finishing touches on Away from Her, her feature film directorial
debut.

"The story is about devotion, and what devotion means after a real
life and real failures."

Away from Her, starring Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent, will have
its world premiere on Sept. 11 at the Toronto International Film
Festival.

The film, Polley's adaptation of Munro's The Bear Came Over the
Mountain, tells the story of Grant and Fiona after Fiona, suffering
from Alzheimer's and living in a nursing home, becomes romantically
attached to a fellow patient, Aubrey.

When Aubrey leaves the facility, a confused Fiona becomes deeply
despondent. Out of love for his wife, Grant, with his own history of
straying during their 50-year marriage, swallows his male pride and
urges Aubrey's wife to re-admit him to the nursing home for the good
of Fiona's mental health.

The movie put Polley, 27, in a potentially precarious situation:
working on a movie about the complexity of marriage alongside her
husband of three years, film editor David Wharnsby.
The couple assumed working side by side on a film delving into
matrimony might be trying at times, said Polley, who also wrote the
screenplay.

"We both had anticipated it would be difficult and it would be full
of tribulation but it wasn't. It was an incredible experience to be
able to sit in a room together 24 hours a day and make decisions
about a film about marriage, and to disagree and to have it come
together."

Atom Egoyan, the executive producer of Away from Her, said he was
impressed that Polley chose the tale to make her feature filmmaking
debut.

"I think it'll surprise a lot of people; it's very assured," he
said. "It's just very interesting to see how a young person deals
with these issues of an old relationship. She's a great filmmaker."
Away from Her is also a rare vehicle for Julie Christie, the iconic
British actress who plays Fiona. Polley said it took some doing to
get the reclusive star to sign on.

"It was a long process to get her to do it," said Polley, who had
worked with Christie previously. "She really did like the script and
spent a long time agonizing over it, but in the end she said no
because she's really ambivalent ... she has a really odd
relationship with acting, like I do. She's a pretty reluctant actor
and she doesn't particularly want to work a lot right now.

"I felt it was my job to convince her, and it took seven or eight
months to get her to agree to do it."

Indeed, getting Away from Her made was a labour of love on all
fronts, Polley adds, but one that's given her much more satisfaction
than acting.

"On the most basic personal level, it's something I had to struggle
and fight to do. There's an incredible feeling or accomplishment in
actually having to really struggle to make a decision and get
something done," she said. "There's a huge difference in the amount
of weight when you're coming up to a screening of a film you wrote
and directed rather than a film you just acted in.

"It's so much more exhilarating to be starting up a dialogue with
people and seeing an audience's response. It's really so great, and
I can't wait to do it again - I've got a lot of ideas buzzing around
in my head."

© The Canadian Press 2006
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=fbb6ae17-
abae-4b5a-af37-64a74b3b0c4a