As he stares down age 77 (come July), actor Gordon Pinsent isn't sure that he expected something like "Away From Her" at this time of his life.

		Related review 'Away From Her' Listen In: Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent co-stars with Julie Christie in "Away From Her," opening today in Pittsburgh: On becoming comfortable with Christie On the reaction to the film from people affected by Alzheimer's On the decision by Christie's character to enter an assisted living facility On filming in wintry weather

"I do know that when it comes, it sort of supports the theory that anything can happen at any time in this business, and that the best things can happen tomorrow, and that's how I feel about this," he says, in his lilting Newfoundland accent.

"Away From Her," opening today at the SouthSide Works Cinema and Manor Theater, has moved critics to superlatives and moviegoers to quiet tears.

Julie Christie (who is 66) and Pinsent play a long-married Canadian couple who face the ultimate test of their bond: the wife's quietly advancing Alzheimer's and her decision to enter an assisted living facility.

The home she moves into has an ironclad rule that bars family calls or visits during the first 30 days (a policy that still exists in some Canadian places). In that time, she transfers a lifetime of love to another patient and suddenly sees her husband as a kind but persistent stranger.

"Away From Her" marked the first collaboration for the stars, although Pinsent planted the idea in the universe two decades ago. "About 20 years ago, I remember saying at a function in Toronto with a promoter of sorts, 'You're a promoter, promote me a movie with Julie Christie.' "

An unusual connection

As it turned out, it was twentysomething actress-turned-director Sarah Polley who brought them together in a drama based on an Alice Munro short story.

	Acress-turned-director Sarah Polley Click photo for larger image.

"I've known her quite a number of years. She was a child actress in a series up here called 'Road to Avonlea.' I did one of those episodes but I didn't act with her, oddly enough, we didn't share a scene," Pinsent recalled of Polley in a recent phone call.

He also knew Sarah's late mother, an actress and casting director, and one of her brothers who appeared in a project Pinsent wrote called "A Gift to Last."

"I had the feeling that if Sarah was going to take on this piece, she's not going to take it on unless she's absolutely in tune with it," Pinsent said. "She's been a bit of an activist up here. I didn't know what other creative steps or whatever else she was going to take but I knew there was a lot more in store for this girl."

Polley, now 28, wed film editor David Wharnsby three years ago, and "Away From Her" fed her fascination with the subject of marriage.

Pinsent elaborated: "The idea of marriage, the various phases, the various steps and then, of course, to reach this particular one of total happiness, total relaxation and retirement, only to watch this wretched kind of thing take over and change it all around again, and watch one partner disappear and another having to just stay and watch and take care as best they can and still keep the love intact, as much as they could."

In January, Pinsent's wife of 44 years died of complications from emphysema.

Actress Charmion King was considered the grande dame of Canadian theater and sadness creeps into his voice when he talks about her. As it turns out, he and his wife were married the same amount of time as the movie's Grant and Fiona.

"I do know that I had my rocky start, just as this character did his, and I also know that it was the happiest, absolute happiest time for me in watching, well, the cultivation of it all, to be ready to deserve this incredible person I was with," and who waited for him to grow up.

"And I think that is probably what happened in the Grant-Fiona situation. I think she sort of waited for him, and he did. This is why, when he surrendered completely to age and to total bliss, he was knocked off his heels when it was decided for him." He didn't envision the last chapter of his love story this way.

Grant is a retired professor who once had a weakness for his young female students in what Pinsent delicately calls "earthier times." But he knew those flings would never last, and the only love with constancy was at home. He offered to change and relocate, and the pair did.

"Then it's only later on that he sees the dangers up ahead about time, what time does and where it takes you and [he] automatically settles into a wonderful sort of pastoral kind of love and life, and after a while of that, it's too late. Other things come in, nature takes a different turn and not a very good one."

Polley, whose acting credits range from Atom Egoyan's "The Sweet Hereafter" to 2004's "Dawn of the Dead," seemed to follow the philosophy of cast the people you want and let them loose. "And she was absolutely right, get the people you want and we felt happier, too, and you feel relaxed, going in, knowing you're already at the advantage of having been wanted."

Despite its sobering subject matter, "Away From Her" has lighter moments, as when a former play-by-play announcer reverts to form.

"In my own experience, I was visiting a sister of mine who is in exactly the same situation down in St. John's, Newfoundland, and the governor general, Adrian Clarkson, oddly enough was doing a bit of a tour. And she leaned over to an elderly person in a wheelchair and said, 'Do you know who I am?' and the lady said, 'No, but if you go to the desk, I'm sure they'll tell you.' "

The production of "Away From Her" used part of a real assisted living facility for filming. Every so often the cast would mingle with the residents and someone tapped Pinsent on the shoulder one day and said, "Did you know everybody in here would die to have your hair?"

'Thrilling to see'

Pinsent, who has heard only good things about the movie from families affected by Alzheimer's, recently introduced the preview to a group of young New Yorkers dedicated to finding a cure and stemming the growth of the disease.

"And that was thrilling to see because it meant not only did I take the film for reasons of good material but it also now can cut through the demographics a bit."

Although Pinsent is not exactly a household name in this country, he is an iconic actor, playwright, author and director of theater, film, TV and radio north of the border. He was doing a Canadian series when he got his first job in the States -- to play the president. He spent a half-dozen years in Los Angeles in the late '60s.

"And that was in '69 and this is 2007, that's kind of on a roll, isn't it?"

"Away From Her" had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and it's been playing in other festivals and building to a wider release.

Asked about his plans after the publicity wave abates, Pinsent said, "I'm going to sleep after this, I think." He's in the middle of a couple of writing projects and still trying to adjust to the death of his wife.

"I don't quite get this business of losing someone, I haven't got that yet, and so I'm just going through the motions at the moment but thanking God for this film and the work that has come after it. ... It helps. It helps with the emptiness."