MovieChat Forums > Still Alice (2015) Discussion > If diagnosed with Alzheimers I'll be dea...

If diagnosed with Alzheimers I'll be dead within 24 hours

posted 9 years ago by sean_mcg
11 replies | jump to latest

That's the only way of defeating this hideous disease. You need to die early, even if you die two years early it's still better than dying two weeks too late, as two weeks too late probably means 10-20 years too late.

If there is such a thing as an 'evil' disease, this is it. It slowly destroys you and wrecks the lives of those closest to you (for a few years at any rate), and you probably have no idea it's happening. It's like slow demonic possession, destroys you from the inside out and turns you into someone that everyone around you wishes was dead, but you have no idea.

[–] andyd-1 9 years ago

can't you just got to a rest home?

[–] GuyOnTheLeft 8 years ago

Yeah, I wondered if we were supposed to be rooting for her to be able to follow through on her suicice plan. Because I was, and I found it tragic when it got messed up.

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[–] LeonardPine 8 years ago

I was gutted for her when she was disturbed and thought that was probably her one chance to do it ruined.

Her and her family now have the awful years of her getting progressively worse and needing 24 hour care.

Horrible disease that turns the sufferer into a living dead person.

Was it a millionaire who said "Imagine no possessions"?

[–] beja-4 8 years ago

Me too, and so was I. Never thought I would be rooting for her, to be able to follow through, but I did. And not because she was a problem for others, but entirely for her own sake.

But one thing got me wondering. That she recorded the clip where she's clear-headed is self-evident, but how did she know when she would do it - or rather why really - after all, it was a coincidence that she found the clip when looking for Lydia's headshots after they had Skyped. Did she even know it was herself that she saw?

[–] GuyOnTheLeft 8 years ago

I'm not sure if she did.

But as for what she had planned, she was supposed to keep testing herself on her daughter's full name and a couple other things every morning with her phone. When she failed to answer one of the questions correctly, she was supposed to go open the video file. (Presumably the recurring reminder to take the test also reminded about where the file was.) She wanted to set a sort of "time bomb" that would end things when she was starting to lose it at a level she considered unacceptable.

But then one night she was all panicked because she couldn't find her phone, and her husband kind of blew her off and told her they would look for it in the morning. (His worst moment IMO.) Then they showed a scene of one of the family members finding it in the freezer, and she exclaimed "I was looking for that last night!" only for the husband to mutter "it was actually a month ago". She stared at the dark screen with frustration, a dim sense there was something important on there, but she now knew not what. Great scene.

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[–] mmitchell355-2 8 years ago

The movie left out many things from the book. In the book Alice accidentally enters a neighbor's home. She believes she has entered her own home and trashes the kitchen. A really sad scene because she can't figure out why her things are out of place. She later rips her own home apart. The implication was it was a habit of Alice, and she can't help it. The book/movie is told from Alice's point of view, so you don't know how many times she does it. However John is the person, who has to deal with the mess. Also in the book Lydia has to get up in the middle of the night, with Alice. Alice wants breakfast and can't understand it is the middle of the night. So who knows how often the husband has had to get up at night.

So the movie makes him look like a jerk, but we don't know how often he has to deal with her night time confusion and wandering.

[–] beja-4 8 years ago

I'm not so sure about that either, because she acts almost the same, as she did when she and the family were at the theater, watching Lydia's play. She was thanking Lydia, but didn't recognize her own daughter. So when she clicked on the link, she had this particular expression, as if she was listening to some authority, like she didn't even recognize herself.

The testing I get, and also the opening of the files when failing, and I do understand that she had set some kind of "time bomb", when she was starting to lose it. But the question is, and I know that no one knows really, but how would she even know when it was time, when she at the time couldn't even tie her own shoelaces. But as she said, she had bad, and not so bad days.

Maybe I'm in minority, but I didn't think John was especially a jerk, apart from (when she haven't got that sick) suggesting to move to Minnesota. Which seems weird, when she needs stabilty. After all, he was always there for her, and it only got worse. Seeing the person you've loved your whole life and who's been so strong, slowly turn into a shadow of her former self, must be totally devastating.

[–] sl1970 8 years ago

Worked in a rest home - completely agree. If you ever find out how you would off yourself - let me know - theres no easy way out. The residents I took care of were in the strangest Hell. Just total confusion - no joy at all.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Metatron_Fallen 8 years ago

And then they discover a cure a week later and then what?

[–] Robideaux16 8 years ago

FFS. This tired-- no, exhausted-- old trope again.

It's always a week later, isn't it? Or just a few days, or as much as six months. Except in real life, where THE CURE HAS NOT BEEN DISCOVERED, AND EVEN IF IT WERE IT WOULDN'T BE READILY AVAILABLE ANYTIME SOON.

"Life at all costs" is very often not worth it. Even when the central person isn't aware, the reality completely shreds their loved ones financially, emotionally, and spiritually. And when they don't even have loved ones? That's an even uglier scenario, and one most people are too delicate to look directly in the face.

Stuff your "then what" horse-hockey, mate.