The story of a Columbia University professor dealing with the effects of early onset Alzheimer’s, Still Alice is sensitively handled but so emotionally devastating it’s almost difficult to watch. The cast is solid – Alice’s family are all great, particularly Kristen Stewart as youngest daughter Lydia, continuing her current hot streak of brilliant showings in smaller movies, but this belongs entirely to Julianne Moore as Alice. The film itself is almost too simple and inevitable for its own good, but Moore is astounding in an achingly realistic performance that manages to convey the blankness of the disease without losing grasp of her internal struggle. Excruciatingly heartbreaking.
