My wife and I are 73 and neither of us has Alzheimer's or cancer; however, we have experienced these diseases in our immediate family. I am a retired, forgetful university professor which made the movie even more engaging! While this movie is probably not worthy of an Oscar nomination, it was very enjoyable and worth the time to watch. Dame Judy Dench and Donald Southerland gave very credible, wonderful and warming interpretations of the characters as would be expected. We very much enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to older adults.

STILL ALICE was a film with something profound to say about Alzheimer's and suicide. This film is facile and fatuous compared with that one. The critics raved about the mercy killing of the paraplegic in MILLION DOLLAR BABY. Handicapped access laws had been the bane of hotelier Clint Eastwood's existence. That is why he made a film glorifying offing the wheel chair handicapped, whom he loathed. Suicide can be the answer to everything and anything, I suppose....

I have not read the book, maybe i should. This is the latest in what seems to be a growing mega trend of gray haired rom/coms for the afternoon retiree set. This one is American, and despite Brit legend Helen Mirren the movie lack's the finer tones of the more under stated British, the dialogue is often mechanical, obvious and very stilted, as is much of the situations. Donald Sutherland is left to carry the film which he pretty much does, he is marvellous, but then he always is, poor Helen Mirren on the other hand is perhaps simply miss cast, at any rate her fake accent had me cringing. Along the way you begin to forgive the films many many fault's, the film has a good heart, and you cannot help but warm to it's tender centre, the ending seem's miss guided or may be just bungled. At any rate i thought it a touch disappointing i just wanted and hoped that it would turn out a better journey than it finally was.

Feisty Ella and her literary academic husband John embark on an apparently spontaneous road trip in their old Winnebago The Leisure Seeker to the consternation of their grown children. It quickly becomes clear to us that John has Alzheimer's which Ella is coping with as best she can, revelling in the good moments and dealing with the bad. It is also obvious that theirs has been a close and loving relationship. The purpose of the trip is to recapture memories, to visit Ernest Hemingway's house (a long-cherished wish of John's), and perhaps something else.Helen Mirren and Donald Sutherland are sublime as Ella and John, conveying all aspects of this profound but dying relationship utterly convincingly. In fact, in many respects, I was watching the current relationship between my parents, which meant that I found this film moving and somewhat painful.It also made me smile a lot. It is often funny, and the humour is often bittersweet. This is a very good film.