Still Alice (2014)
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A linguistics professor faces the daunting reality of a diagnosis of early-onset familial Alzheimer's disease.
The story
Dr. Alice Howland, a linguistics professor at Columbia University, celebrates her 50th birthday with her husband and three adult children. However, after a lapse in memory during a lecture and becoming lost during a jog, she is diagnosed with early-onset familial Alzheimer's disease. As her memory begins to fade, Alice must navigate the impact of the condition on her professional life and her family's future. Her children, Anna and Tom, undergo genetic testing to see if they will also develop the disease, while her younger daughter, Lydia, chooses not to be tested. The film explores Alice's struggle to maintain her identity as her condition progresses.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Dr. Alice Howland, a linguistics professor at Columbia University, is diagnosed with early-onset familial Alzheimer's disease after a lapse in memory during a lecture. Her children, Anna and Tom, test positive and negative for the disease respectively, while Lydia refuses testing. As Alice's memory fades, she creates a series of personal questions on her phone to track her cognitive state and records a video message instructing her future self to end her life if she can no longer answer them. She eventually loses her job and struggles to recognize her daughter, Lydia, in public. Her husband, John, is offered a job in Minnesota; Alice asks him to stay, but he eventually moves to care for her. Before he leaves, Alice gives a moving speech at an Alzheimer's conference. Later, she finds her phone in the freezer and nearly follows her own suicide instructions but is interrupted by a caregiver. In the end, as her condition worsens and she becomes barely able to speak, Lydia reads her a play, and Alice responds with a single word: 'love'.
- First release year
- 2014
- Runtime (minutes)
- 101
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Richard Glatzer; Wash Westmoreland
- Writers
- Richard Glatzer · writer; Wash Westmoreland · writer
- Cast and characters
- Julianne Moore · Alice Howland; Alec Baldwin · John; Kristen Stewart · daughter; Kate Bosworth · daughter; Hunter Parrish · son
- Genres
- tragedy; drama
- Themes
- Alzheimer's disease; family dynamics; mortality; identity
- Tone and mood
- somber; poignant; intimate
- Premise and plot tags
- medical drama; biographical fiction; academic setting
- Source material / true-story basis
- the 2007 novel by Lisa Genova
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews, particularly praising Julianne Moore's performance as 'convincing, disturbing and personal' and 'one of her most devastating performances.' Critics praised the film's 'sensitivity' and 'bravery' in handling the subject matter.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 85% · scale: percentage · review count: 206; Metacritic · score: 72 · scale: 100 · review count: 41
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Best Actress · win; BAFTA Award · Best Actress · win; Screen Actors Guild Award · Best Actress · win; Critics' Choice Movie Award · Best Actress · win
- Production trivia
- The film was leaked online during the Sony Pictures hack.; The script incorporated elements from the director's experience with ALS.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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