'Still Alice' is a film that boasts a remarkable central performance from Julianne Moore. It tells the story of a University linguistics professor (Moore) as she is diagnosed a rare form of Auzheimer's disease.
Richard Glatzer's direction of the movie can be viewed as a parallel to his own life and personal struggle as he lived with ALS disease. 'Still Alice' is full of emotive shots as the characters show care and support to Moore as she tries to continue juggling her career and family life with the disease. Aspects such as the music and cinematography is given a very straight-forward approach to allow the actors' performances to tell the story and to add a true to life direction.
Based on the novel of the same name written by Lisa Genova, the screenplay is very faithfully adapted. The film really focuses on the story and the dialogue between the characters and some scenes and interactions are extremely moving thanks to how well it is written.
Julianne Moore is perfect as the main character. She portrays her struggle with the disease with so much inner strength and dignity. Moore is supported by a solid cast such as Alec Baldwin and Kristen Stewart but are outshone by her brilliant performance.
Overall, 'Still Alice' is a very good film. It is very touching and moving tale about coping with such a life changing and destructive disease. However, it seems to only be memorable due to Julianne Moore's incredible acting.
★★★½