How much can you love a woman you’ve been married to for 50 years? Away From Her sets out to hold that question up in the air, turn it about and then slips it into the capable hands of Gordon Pinsent to answer. A lyrical screenplay adaptation of celebrated author Alice Munro’s short story, The Bear Came Over the Mountain, the film is a beautifully moving love story that deals with memory and the circuitous, unknowable intimacies of a long marriage. Grant (Gordon Pinsent) and Fiona’s (Julie Christie) commitment to each other appears unwavering, and their everyday life is full of tenderness and humor. This serenity is broken only by the occasional, carefully restrained reference to the past, giving a sense that this marriage may not always have been such a fairy tale. This tendency of Fiona’s to make such references, along with her increasingly evident memory loss, creates a tension that is usually brushed off casually by both of them. As the lapses become more obvious and dramatic, it is no longer possible for either of them to ignore the fact that Fiona is suffering from Alzheimer’s. While still lucid, Fiona insists (over Grant’s objections) that she move into an assisted-living facility. Once she’s there, Grant must cope with a second heartbreak: he sees the diminished Fiona form a deep attachment to a male resident. Though plagued by the notion that Fiona may be tormenting him for past misdeeds, he forges ahead, resolved to ensure his wife’s comfort even when it causes him anguish. Both leads give rich performances in roles that do not feature the kind of showy “acting” scenes that often crop up in movies of this sort. Polley’s assured, remarkable move into feature direction exquisitely captures the many subtleties of Alice Munro’s work. The story finds bright moments in a sly performance by Olympia Dukakis, who plays the wife of the man (Michael Murphy) with whom Fiona has bonded. The two healthy spouses provide some degree of optimism for members of the audience who will surely be envisioning themselves in their shoes.