Iris (2001)

Absolutely amazing

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The film, Iris, written by Richard Eyre in 2001 is a British-American biographical drama film. The story tell us about a British novelist, Iris Murdock, and her relationship with John Bayley. Iris was an outgoing individual, who became sick, and the story tell us how it is to live with an Alzheimer's disease. We see a lot of throwback's of how John's and Iris' life was before she got sick, in their youth. I think it's a nice sequence when we experience the swimming in the lake both as young and elderly. It's a symbol of a clearing process and a rebirth for Iris. It's a beautiful story of a lifelong romance, and how to overcome the problems that follow a life with the dementia disease. I think the film give us a great general view of how it is to be a relative person in a dementia patients' life.

Iris is a biographical picture that tells a true story of British novelist Iris Murdoch and her relationship with John Bayley. It contrasts the start of their relationship, when Murdoch was an outgoing, dominant individual as compared to her timid and scholarly partner Bayley, and their their old age,when Murdoch was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and tended to by a frustrated Bayley in their North Oxford home in Charlbury Road.This film stars Judi Dench as Iris,Kate Winslet as the young Iris,Jim Broadbent as John and Hugh Bonneville as the young John.The screenplay was written by Richard Eyre and Charles Wood Bayley's memoir "Elegy for Iris" and it was directed also by Richard Eyre.The story is told wherein the young Iris Murdoch meets fellow student John Bayley at the University of Oxford, he is a naive virgin easily flummoxed by her libertine spirit, arch personality, and obvious artistic talent. It also tells in parallel their life decades later, little has changed and the couple keeps house, with John doting on his more famous wife when Iris begins experiencing forgetfulness and dementia.However, the devoted John struggles with hopelessness and frustration to become her caretaker, as his wife's mind deteriorates from the ravages of Alzheimer's disease.This is a touching film about two people who love each other and it gives us insights the pain and suffering that people undergo when stricken by Alzheimer's disease and the pain experienced by the people surrounding them.The performances of all four actors are worthy of praise especially Judi Dench,who captured the older Iris.The only thing about it that it failed to get a perfect rating is that the film isn't powerful and compelling enough to make it a great film.But regardless of the reason stated,Iris is a highly recommended for everyone who like great romantic stories.

Pretty standard biopic about author Iris Murdoch (Judi Dench) and her struggle with Alzheimer's.There are no complaints with the film's acting, which in addition to Dench's performance includes an Oscar-winning portrayal of Murdoch's loyal husband (played by Jim Broadbent) and extended glimpses of Murdoch's younger self (played by Kate Winslet). But performances aside, the film never rises above the level of fair, mostly because it's just too safe and too reminiscent of a million other biopics about famous artists.Dench and Winslet were also Oscar nominated, only the second time that two different actresses received nominations for playing the same character in the same film (the other being "Titanic," which also starred Winslet in the "younger self" role -- how's that for obscure trivia?) Grade: B

The Director and Screenwriter of Iris, Richard Eyre, states during the special features DVD Commentary that one cannot understand the enormity of the loss to Alzheimer's of the protagonist, novelist Iris Murdoch, without appreciating what was lost. So he divides the story of Iris into the present day narrative of her deterioration due to Alzheimer's and flashbacks to the courtship and eventual marriage of the younger Iris (played by Kate Winslet) to Professor John Bayley back in the 1950s. The young Bayley is played by Hugh Bonneville who bears a striking resemblance to Jim Broadbent, who plays the elderly Bayley opposite Judi Dench as the now afflicted elderly Iris.Because Eyre approaches Murdoch as a virtual seminal figure in the history of world literature, the flashback scenes add up to nothing much more than a hagiography. While the contrast between the two personalities, the mercurial, flirtatious Iris and bookish academician Baley should lead to some gripping tension, in the end there is scant conflict between the two. Yes, Iris's voluminous affairs are alluded to and there is one scene where she and Bayley have a protracted argument regarding those affairs, in the end however, there is little we learn that is interesting about the earlier relationship. While Eyre has the benefit of Bayley's recent recollections concerning the extent and scope of Iris's deterioration, the flashbacks are obviously based on distant memories of the relationship. In short, I don't believe that Eyre has made his case that there was a great 'loss' based on his portrait of the early Iris. As a young woman she flirted and had affairs with other men; eventually she matured and was a nurturing presence in not-so-confident John Bayley's life. Eyre's flashbacks are photographed quite nicely and the setting evokes the bygone era of the 50s. But I still want to know what is so special about Iris Murdoch. I might find that out reading her books, but it certainly is not conveyed here in this film.Eyre is on much more solid in ground the retelling of Murdoch's decline in more recent times. Judi Dench is excellent (as usual) as a woman who gradually deteriorates due to the ravages of Alzheimer's. The decline is subtle at the beginning as we see Dench struggle with language. Later, in a memorable scene, she is unable to recall the name of the then current British Prime Minister, Tony Blair (but remembers it later). When her novel arrives in the mail, she shows no awareness that she's the author and is more perturbed by the presence of the mailman ("it's only the postman"). More harrowing scenes follow: as she deteriorates further, she wanders out of the house, only to be found hours later by a former friend who attended their wedding (and who Bayley fails to recognize!); upon being told of the death of a close friend, Iris freaks out, grabs the wheel of the car Bayley is driving which results in an accident—she's thrown from the car but ends up lying in the woods on the side of the road, virtually uninjured.Jim Broadbent received the best supporting Oscar for his performance in Iris and it's well deserved. At first Bayley is in denial about Iris's condition. He continues to treat her as if she's normal. In a classic study of the stages of grief, Bayley (a suppressed character to begin with) finally lets out his frustration and anger as Iris's condition takes a turn for the worse. Eventually there's acceptance, despite Iris's complete loss of memory. At the end, Bayley is forced to put Iris in a home but is right there with her as she passes on.Iris is a graceful and beautifully photographed film. While the examination of Iris and John Baley's early relationship is superficial, the chronicle of Iris's sad decline is a textbook study of what happens to people when they end up afflicted with Alzheimer's. What's more, Broadbent and Dench, convey the intimate bond between the two characters despite the overwhelmingly trying circumstances.