Still Alice

 ( 2014 Films ) 

Julianne Moore was Glatzer and Westmoreland's first choice for the lead role. Moore prepared for the role over four months, watching documentaries about Alzheimer's disease. She met with Elizabeth Gelfand Stearns, the co-producer of the film and the head of The Judy Fund, which partners with the Alzheimer's Association in the fight to cure Alzheimer's Disease. Introductions were made to Dr. Mary Sano, the director of Alzheimer's disease research at Mount Sinai Hospital. Through Skype, she talked to three women with early-onset Alzheimer's disease; she also visited a support group for women with Alzheimer's disease and a long-term care facility for Alzheimer's patients. She also undertook the cognitive testing used for diagnosing dementia with a neuropsychiatrist. Moore suggested Alec Baldwin to play Alice's husband, since they had previously worked together on the sitcom 30 Rock. Kate Bosworth was cast after she told Glatzer and Westmoreland "how important and personal the subject matter was" to her; she had family members with Alzheimer's disease and, after reading Genova's book, set out to become involved in the film adaptation.

Principal photography took place in New York over 23 days in March 2014. Most of the film was shot in a townhouse on West 162nd Street in Manhattan. Some scenes were filmed in an apartment building in Yonkers and a senior's home in Hastings-on-Hudson. The film was shot by French cinematographer Denis Lenoir, whom Glatzer and Westmoreland had met at a film screening in 1999; they had wanted to work with him ever since. During filming, Glatzer and Westmoreland attempted to divide the directing duties equally between themselves, even though Glatzer's physical condition had deteriorated to the point that he could only communicate by typing on an iPad with a single finger.

The production's $4–5 million budget was funded by the French financier BSM Studio. Post-production on the film was completed ten days before its premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. The score was composed by Ilan Eshkeri, who wanted to work on Still Alice because of his experience with people affected by Alzheimer's disease in his personal life. He had worked on several Alzheimer's-related projects before, including the 2012 film Ashes, Tim Wheeler's 2014 album Lost Domain, and an advertising campaign for the Alzheimer's Society; he said of working on Still Alice, "in many ways this was a culmination of an artistic expression of something that has deeply touched me." Eshkeri wrote the score to be performed on piano, which he intended to represent Alice's family life, and by a string trio, of which he thought the challenge of composition was similar to "the challenge of coping with the disease".

Rolling Stone critic Peter Travers wrote of "the blazing artistry" of Moore's performance, which he said was "alive with ferocity and feeling and committed to truth". Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle described Moore's portrayal of Alice as "convincing, disturbing and personal", while Entertainment Weeklys Chris Nashawaty cited it as being "among her most devastating performances". In a review for The Globe and Mail, Liam Lacey wrote of her "transparent emotional presence", though he felt that "the part of barely scratches the surface of her ability". The Daily Telegraph critic Tim Robey felt that Moore's "astonishingly delicate and sad" performance was one of her career highlights, and characterized the film as a whole as "gorgeous and piercing".

Empire magazine's David Hughes gave Still Alice five out of five, highlighting Moore's "note-perfect performance" and Glatzer and Westmoreland's "sensitivity and scalpel-sharp precision". Deborah Young, reviewing the film for The Hollywood Reporter, praised the directors' "restrained, understated approach" to the story, which she saw as "the best insurance against sloppy sentimentality". The Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan attributed the film's success to Moore and Stewart's ability "to keep things honest" despite parts of it seeming "contrived and overly familiar". Peter Debruge of Variety complimented Glatzer and Westmoreland's "dignified" and "personal" approach to the subject matter, as well as their decision to tell the story from Alice's point of view.

Other critics gave the film lukewarm reviews. A. O. Scott of The New York Times praised Moore's and Stewart's performances, but felt that the story was "too removed from life to carry the full measure of pain that Alice deserves". The New Yorker critic Anthony Lane criticized Glatzer and Westmoreland for "flinching" when it came to showing Alice's deterioration and its effect on her family, and found the film's sentimental aspects "manipulative—and effective". The Austin Chronicles Josh Kupecki gave the film two and a half out of five, finding it clichéd and melodramatic, and likening it to a public service announcement. Richard Roeper, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, described Moore as giving "a four-star performance in a two-star movie", drawing attention to the "intrusive" score and the "maddeningly overwrought and heavy-handed" storytelling.