Iris

Rating:
Summary: Iris - At times touching, but tough to watch
Review: "Iris," is the true story of British novelist Iris Murdoch. The love story, between John and Iris is secondary; as iris and her husband John do battle with Iris's Alzhimers disease.

"Iris" is a movie that is at times touching but tough to watch. This is particularly the case if the viewer of the movie has lost someone to the diseaase Alzhimers. That aside, I found "Iris" to be well acted but very slow.

The lead roles were played by: Hugh Bonneville, young John, and Jim Broadbent, old John. Iris Murdoch was played by Kate Winslet, young Iris, and Judi Dench, old Iris. Could not have paired these actors any better. Excellent!

The movie "Iris," often tossed between present time and flashbacks. I have seen other movies use flashback sequences better. Example, "Bridges of Madison County." (I also reviewed) In "Iris", I found the the toss between present time and flashbacks "choppy." To many holes. Reminds me of swiss cheese.

Iris Murdoch, British novelist 1919-1999. Dispite its problems "Iris" is worth a rent.

Rating:
Summary: Too jumbled...
Review: The movie is about famed novelist and writer Iris Murdoch. And if you want to know information regarding her achievements look somewhere else. However, if you want information concerning her personal exploits, then this film will keep you interested. For me the problem with the film is that it jumps back and forth too much. From Iris's reckless youth, to her degenerative brain disease later in life. It also concerns her companion husband, played superbly by Jim Broadbent (who earned an academy award for his performance). However, since the film jumps back and forth so much, the film suffers from the lack of a narrative formula. However, the movie is saved by wonderful performances.
Warning: If you are looking for a dedicated love story than this film is not for you. It seems the two main charachters live together because it's more comfortable, not because they love each other.

Rating:
Summary: Celestia Fox Shines
Review: One of my favorite aspects of this film is the superb casting! Celestia Fox who also cast "The Madness of King George" and "An Ideal Husband" does a magnificent job of bringing just the right actors together. The leads are exquisite. Judi Dench and Kate Winslet, never previously mistaken as twins, seem remarkably well fit, unified by hairdo and harmonized in temperment. Jim Broadbent and Hugh Bonneville are so superbly matched that I really wondered if it were the same actor! Broadbent was superb in both "Topsy Turvy" & "Moulin Rouge," but touches us fully as the older John Bayley, fully deserving his Best Supporting Actor Oscar & Golden Globe. Even the lover/friend Maurice, who as a young man serves lobster and as an old man returns Iris from the grocer's, was played by the father/son team of Samuel and Timothy West & is perfect! I thought there was a family resemblance, and will have to watch "Howard's End" again to spot Sam. Even Penelope Wilton who flits briefly on screen as best friend Janet Stone turns in a remarkably deep performance. I felt a bit sorry for Hugh Bonneville who first came to my attention in "Notting Hill" for not also getting a nomination, because he was delightful as the romanticly naive young John Bayley. The DVD version is good. I appreciated the featurette and how director Eyre used Iris' life as a vehicle for telling this amazing love story. Those expecting a biography will be a tad disappointed; but those wanting a deep and rich film will be elated. It was also touching to see the film awarded recognition by the Alzheimer's Association. Murdock's "The Unicorn" is now on my reading stand, which will be the first of hers I've read; so any film that makes me want to discover an author must have been moving. This is a special, deeply moving, perfectly cast, cinematic jewel. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Superb performances make a great contribution to the book
Review: I loved the book Iris when I read it, and in my mind's eye I instantly cast Judi Dench as the right person to play Iris Murdoch. Lucky me, she is really superb in showing both Iris' fierce intelligence and her decline. But the performances that really overwhelmed me were Jim Broadbent's as the older John Bayley and Hugh Bonneville as the younger Bayley. Since Bayley himself wrote the book, it was sometimes hard to get a sense of him apart from his role as an author. Broadbent and Bonneville really make him come to life. If Murdoch's goal as a writer was to show "how to be good" and "how to love," then she learned a lot from Bayley, who appears to be both.

My only caution is that if you have not read the book first, you might be a bit thrown by the constant shifting back and forth from the aged Murdoch-and-Bayley to the days of their youth. (For example, at one point the young Bayley opens a door to peek on Iris but when the camera turns to see what he sees we shift forward several decades and see the aged Iris instead).

Definitely worth seeing/renting/buying for the performances. I can't wait until Broadbent's next movie.

Rating:
Summary: Touching
Review: I watched my grandfather die of Alzheimers disease, and I didn't realize this film was about that until I started watching it. But truly this film isn't about the disease. It is a love story. If you are looking for a biography about Iris Murdoch, though, this isn't it. It touches on her writing but not in great detail. It is about her relationship with her husband. Kate Winslet plays Iris as a young woman and is wonderful as usual. The film is touching because it switches back and forth between flashbacks and modern time. Judi Dench is marvelous as the older Iris, but it is Jim Broadbent who turns in a shining performance as her long-suffering husband.

The flashbacks provide the film with an excellent foundation for showing what this disease does. We see young Iris as vibrant, alive, and brilliant with words. And then we see what a great loss that is in old Iris when she starts to lose her memory. Truly a tragedy in any case, it is particularly poignant here because we see a woman who's very survival and happiness depends on the sharpness of her mind. The loss is gradual, and heartbreaking. I would have liked to have gotten to know Iris a bit better. The flashbacks tend to provide us with bits and pieces, but it makes you want to know more about her.

Rating:
Summary: Good film, best music score
Review: Had this movie delved a little deeper into the complex facets of Iris Murdock's life, it could have been more satisfactory to her readers -- or to people who were curious about her; but then, it would have become a documentary instead of this charming, heart-warming drama.

I particularly loved the music score. Listening to Kate Winslet's voice in "A lark in the clean air" was a pleasant surprise, but what really got me was Charles Trenet's "Que reste-t-il de nos amours?" -- the unforgettable love song from Francois Truffaut's 1968 film, "Baisers voles" (Stolen kisses). Here are some captivating lyrics that I can't help but sharing with you "...Que reste-t-il de nos amours? Que reste-t-il de ces beaux jours? Une photo, vieille photo de ma jeunesse... Que reste-t-il des billets doux, des mois d'avril, des rendez-vous? Un souvenir qui me poursuit sans cesse... Bonheur fane, cheveux au vent, baisers voles, reves mouvants... Que reste-t-il de tout cela? Dites-le-moi..."

Rating:
Summary: A Tender Endurance
Review: Being myself somewhere between the two - youth and old age - I find that I feel no envy whatsoever when I see youth in love... but I feel it when I see the aged in love. The first so often is blissfully ignorant of what is to come; it is a lusty hormonal flaring, a fiery freefall of blind trust. The latter, however, is filled with bumpy and bristling knowledge of all that has been; it is crisscrossed and ravaged with battle scars, tender with experience of both shadows and light, neither blind nor ignorant - nevertheless, it survives. My respect and admiration for that kind of survival is boundless. There is nothing so beautiful as old love.

My favorite scene in the movie "Iris" is when this woman of once-brilliant mind leaps from a speeding car driven by her husband. She leaps into the night, somersaulting into the ditch alongside the winding road. He swerves in panic, leaves the car on the shoulder of the road, hobbles and runs as fast as an old man may back to find her. And there she is.... When he, too, loses his balance and somersaults into the ditch, he finds her. She is lying in the leaves and grass on her back, peacefully examining the starred sky. Crawling over to lie beside her in the leaves, he too lies on his back and watches the sky. And why not. Fallen into a ditch alongside a winding road, what better thing to do than to count stars. For a tiny moment in time, Iris is lucid... or perhaps not. Perhaps it is only something that is deep within her, deeper than the clouding of Alzheimer's, deep in that place where heart beyond mind remembers. The old woman turns her head to look at the old man who is her lifelong mate and simply says: "I love you." The old man smiles. He loves her too, and that is why this story is such a moving one. Having seen each other through the wilds of youth, through the cripplings of old age, through the grind of daily creative work, these two share lasting love.

Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent, who portray this couple in old age, deserve all awards given them for this performance. Both resemble the real Iris Murdoch and John Bayley not only in physical appearance, remarkably so, but they portray the couple with always the right amount of humor, emotion, and sensitivity. As the young Iris, Kate Winslet's performance exceeds any I have seen from her prior to this film. She, too, is to be applauded.

Had Iris Murdoch been portrayed in more detail - as writer, as philosopher, as a woman - prior to Alzheimer's, it would have added a pleasing dimension to this otherwise excellent movie. And still, the movie wins out with its message of tender endurance, even through the tragedy of loss when such a bright mind is slowly and agonizingly extinguished.

Rating:
Summary: Poignant portrait of Iris Murdoch
Review: Because I have personally witnessed the devastation of Alzheimer's Disease, I was hesitant to view 'Iris', which is an unflinching account of famed British writer Iris Murdoch's battle with this monstrous illness. Now, I'm glad I saw it. It's a beautiful film.

Murdoch [1919-1999] wrote nearly thirty novels, most of which deal with the complexities and mysteries of human behavior. She also taught philosophy. She deeply loved her husband of forty years, John Bayley, a renowned literary critic. Her other great love was words. To watch her slowly losing contact with all she loved [and, thus, with all she was] is a deeply touching experience, though the movie can only begin to describe the real-life events.

Iris is portrayed as a young woman by Kate Winslet. Judi Dench plays the older Iris. Young John is Hugh Bonneville, old John is Jim Broadbent, who won and Oscar for his performance. The casting is perfect, not only because the actors are great ones, but also because they blend perfectly as the movie switches back and forth between the present and the past.

This is not meant to be a comprehensive biography. It touches on only a few highlights, which are meant to contrast the vibrantly alive and productive young Iris with the fragile and lost Iris at the end of her life. It is done with great compassion, and the result is perhaps the best illustration of the horror of Alzheimer's ever put on film.

Rating:
Summary: somewhat misrepresents iris murdoch
Review: 'Iris' is exceptionally well acted, with Judi Dench, Kate Winslet, and Jim Broadbent putting in fine performances. There are some exaggerations and flaws with this movie, however. Iris Murdoch was never as 'voraciously sexual' (one description I read) as is portrayed in the movie. Neither her official biography by Peter Conradi nor the books by John Bayley describe her as such. She was most certainly independent and bisexual, as in the movie, but never as flamboyantly as portrayed on screen. Also, there is very little in the film for those not familiar with Murdoch to learn about her. You have no idea who Janet and Reynolds Stone, her best friends in the film, are. Also, little is mentioned about Murdoch's upbringing and career.

Rating:
Summary: Totally over-rated
Review: I heard so many good things about this movie that I drove to a theater almost 40 minutes away just to go see it. I now have to say that I deeply regret it. This was one of the most boring movies I have ever sat through in a theater! It barely had a plot. All it was about was a writer who lost her memory....not much of a story there. Oh yeah, the writer who was losing her memory was a big bimbo when she was young. There, I summed it all up for you, now you don't have to go waste your time watching it like I did.