Similarities Between Still Alice And Wash Westmoreland

The film Still Alice, directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland is able to show the impact of having Alzheimers. This is revealed through the emotional and physical impact it has on sufferer Alice, the effect on everyday life and the influence it has on families. The directors convey this through the use of camera movement, mise-en-scene, lighting and editing techniques.
The emotional and physical impact Alice experiences is strongly evident in the use of camera angles, movement and sound. The physical impact is apparent when Alice gets lost whilst jogging at the university where she teaches. The directors make this scene powerful by placing her in the centre of the frame and by using tracking shots when Alice is running. A long, …show more content…
At the beginning of the movie she is seen in a lecture where she is known to others as the ‘Lillian Young Professor of linguistics at Colombia University.’ The directors do this by placing Alice in the middle to show she is ‘the centre of attention’ when it comes to teaching linguistics. The mise-en-scene in the frame accentuates the power she has as she is characterised through her sky blue shirt and a rosy red face which radiates towards the camera with a slight low angle, showing she is the main focus. This shows the strong person Alice was, but after being diagnosed with the disease there’s a clear difference with her living an almost completely altered lifestyle. At the end of the film she is asked to make a speech at the Alzheimer’s association and share with others what it is like living with the disease. One major difference from the lecture at the beginning is she now has to highlight what she’s reading as she goes ‘so [she doesn’t] read the same thing over and over and over again.’ Although she is seen trembling nervously before reading, a part of her knows she needs to get her message across, not only for her but others’ suffering. The directors show she is still a strong willed, inspiring character by using the same techniques as when she first made a speech as she is shot from a low …show more content…
When Alice tells her children about having Alzheimers, youngest daughter, Lydia takes a different approach to grieving. When she is told about her mum, she pauses and thinks about particular occasions which didn’t add up to her, ‘I’d noticed one thing, you didn’t know Tom’s girlfriend.’ Although she hides her grief at the beginning, Lydia soon changes and becomes a closer part of her mother’s life. Lydia begins reading the plays she wrote with Alice and they begin to talk, understand and respect each other. This shows it had a powerful impact on Lydia as the directors show the two of them by a close up shot, revealing the emotion on their faces, which is powerful as at this point Alice’s condition was deteriorating and she could not speak fluently anymore. Although the disease was tragic for Alice it was also hard for Lydia to deal with but after time she managed to help her mum and form a stronger relationship. Lydia’s sister, Anna was a much more melodramatic character, as when she is given the news she cannot hold in her tears and begins to worry about her children’s future. As the disease is genetic, she later decides to be tested, and when the results come back she and her mum are in shock. ‘I got results. I’m positive, least I found out now before the pregnancy session, so they can be sure the babies will be okay.’ This scene is able to have a