Far from the madding crowd? Not quite

Julie Christie hates the world of cinema8212;but can8217;t quite give it up

For moviegoers who fell for Julie Christie in the 1960s, she will always be the tousle-haired blonde with the dazzling smile who lit up the screen in Darling, Doctor Zhivago and Far From the Madding Crowd.

In her new movie, Away From Her, she is still a tousle-haired blonde with a dazzling smile. But at 66, she is no longer attracted by fame. She is not even much interested in the Julie Christie of legend. 8220;I have no connection with that person at all,8221; she said. 8220;That person has gone.8221;

Indeed, since that person went8212;by her own calculation, sometime in the late 19708212;Christie has become a reluctant actress. 8220;I don8217;t like that world very much,8221; she said. 8220;I feel I should apologise because it sounds so prissy and so ungrateful. Of course, I have got so much out of it and I8217;m glad my life has gone the way it has. But I can8217;t help it: it leaves a slightly bad taste in my mouth.8221;

So, it is not surprising that she took some persuading to play the lead in Away From Her, the first feature film directed by Canadian actress Sarah Polley.

Christie8217;s last major role was in Afterglow a decade ago. Polley, 28, who had Christie in mind when she adapted Alice Munro8217;s short story, The Bear Came Over the Mountain, for the screen, was nonetheless determined to have her in her movie. Christie met Polley in 2000 when they were both filming Hal Hartley8217;s No Such Thing.

8220;I fell totally in love with her,8221; Christie recalled. 8220;Of course, when she sent me this screenplay, I said no. But she kept on and on. In the end, I thought, if I don8217;t do it, I8217;ll miss the opportunity of being with her on her first feature film.8221;

On one level, Away From Her is a movie about Alzheimer8217;s. Christie8217;s Fiona is a beautiful woman in her early 60s who is gradually consumed by the disease, as her longtime husband, Grant, played by Gordon Pinsent, reluctantly accepts that she must be hospitalised. Through the early stages of her decline, Fiona is also aware of her affliction, noting poignantly at one point, 8220;I think I may be beginning to disappear.8221;

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As Polley conceived the movie, however, it is no less a portrait, in her words, of 8220;what a marriage looks like after that much life is piled on top of it8221;. As Fiona8217;s mind fades, memories she had long buried suddenly surface to confront Grant with his own past.

So, Christie was asked, does she fear Alzheimer8217;s? 8220;No, it doesn8217;t worry me too much,8221; she said. 8220;I am more worried about what8217;s happening to people in the rest of the world, to be honest.8221;

For Christie, Away From Her may be her last major role, unless she is once again wooed back to the screen. 8220;If I don8217;t make films, no one is going to write about me,8221; she said. 8220;And most people have forgotten who I am anyway.8221;

And yet, if the mere mention of Christie8217;s name still brings sighs from her fans, it is also because that dream girl of the 1960s lives on_Alan Riding,NYT