"Alice, do you still want to be here?"

I never read the book, but I just watched the movie. I most definitely took his meaning to be, "Did she still want to exist?" The reason I thought this was for several reasons following up to this scene.

The Ice Cream Shoppe scene directly followed Alice's failed suicide attempt in the bathroom where she spilled her "squirreled away" bottle of suicide pills, after the housekeeper surprised her by coming home (causing her to spill em). Alice was refusing to answer the housekeeper, who'd been calling out to her, to let her know she was home. (Alice seemed at a loss as to what to do, after the pills went everywhere)...after all she just spilled a whole bottle of secret pills (can you say deer caught in the headlights reaction?)
Failure to respond to the housekeeper would've caused the housekeeper to at least check the house (to see if Alice may have wandered)....thus causing the housekeeper to possibly stumble upon the scene in the bathroom of spilled pills.

Also by this time Alice's mind is not quick enough to white lie/ fib or play this off as an accidental spill of some found bottle of pills. Also her hand eye coordination by this time is also obviously affected. For this reason, she likely wouldn't have been capable or quick enough to gather all the pills up in time..

Lastly & most importantly, Alice left her laptop "open" ..... & ontop of her dresser. She also left her top dresser drawer wide open (where she found the pills) & the "how to finalize yourself instructions" file was there for the world to see.... with Alice's file photo frozen. This is just my assumption but I think that the husband was made aware of the pill incident, by the housekeeper....without having to show it all & was also either shown....or maybe found the laptop instructions.

This is the reason he asked her if she still wanted to be here.

In my opinion.....I think that he would've spared the family that stress. If they knew this, they would be really sad or possibly against it. If Alice chose to check out, then they may want to talk her out of it....so I think he might have spared everyone the grief of knowing about the pills & laptop instructions.

This was brought up by someone, but I just had to mention this. Do I think her hubby was having an affair or was trying to finish her off? No. This disease just got to hard to witness day in & day out. It was easier for him to work + I think medical bills were racking up & he needed to pay for them somehow. They went from a dual income to a single income, so that needs to be taken into consideration, too.

Mainly, I believe that the Ice Cream Shoppe scene was about Alice's husband trying to reach her one final time to see what she really wanted. (Trying to see if she wanted death with dignity)
Unfortunately for both of them, it was too late. Remember that she complained that he worked so much? I think he couldn't bear to see her fade away, so he worked to avoid this. But, he also failed to communicated with her, during the time it was truly important...so that she could have her wishes conveyed & her thoughts heard. A will, written wishes, video...something. Again, I didn't read the book....so I am taking this off of the movie, only.

P.S. My Dad, Grandfather & Great Grandmother (Grandparents had it, before they had a word for it....aside from "senility"). They all had early onset Alzheimers....I lost my Dad this past year over this awful disease. I have to say that this movie was very convincing, without getting into the gross icky....I think it was done very tastefully & realistically. Kudos Moore & everyone in the movie!

She was distracted by her caregiver coming home. Alice was at a point were she should not have been alone. When her youngest daughter called her minutes before, Alice was making tea. She was in no condition to be alone or using a stove. Seeing Alice struggle to follow the instructions to commit suicide, shows her mental decline.

Once her caregiver calls out to her, Alice forgets about killing her self. She wasn't trying to lie to her caregiver. She didn't try to hide it, so she could try later. She totally forgot about the suicide attempt. Her husband/caregiver found the pills aund recording. John asked questions, because he watched the recording. She was suppose to kill herself, once she was unable to answer simple questions. That's why he asked his youngest child to come home. I think he finally realized how far gone Alice was. And the she needed 24 hour care.

In the book it's pretty clear he's asking about the city, which would follow the question about whether she remembers the Columbia building in the movie. He's trying to convince himself that uprooting her into another state is OK because she doesn't know where she is. But she still finds comfort in recognizing some of her surroundings and moving her is the wrong, selfish move.

In the book, John actually asks Alice the questions that she used to answer everyday on her phone before it got lost/broke. She can't answer any of them. I took it to mean that he discovered her plan and is now thinking about helping her commit suicide, although he never goes through with it. I thought it was one of the most beautiful scenes in the book.

Um he was definitely asking if she wanted to be dead or not

But it was too late!