Iris

Rating:
Summary: She's Moving into the Darkness
Review: Richard Eyre's "Iris" deals with the last years of Iris Murdoch's (Judi Dench) life and her descent into the darkness of Alzheimers disease (It's interesting to note that the word ALZHEIMERS is never mentioned during the course of the entire film!).
The film reverts from the present to the past with Kate Winslett playing Iris as a young woman: full of life and love and possesor of a magnificent intellect.
But "Iris" is also the story of John Bayley (Jim Broadbent and Hugh Bonneville as a young man),Iris' husband and caretaker: a man whose implacable attraction to Iris leads him to accept and swallow Iris' many affairs and almost pyschotic need for privacy. (The Bayley waiting out in the rain, not wanting to interfere, while Iris makes love to other men scenes are particularly sad) But Bayley, a college professor in his own right, is no dummy and he chooses this relationship with his eyes wide open, as it were. This film would have been a lot more interesting if this part of the story had been pursued. It's surprising that it wasn't as the source material for this film is Bayley's memoir of his relationship with Murdoch.
The "dark" scenes of Iris slowly losing contact with her life and her world are unfortunately nothing we haven't seen a hundred times on television. Judi Dench handles these scenes competently which is to be expected. And, in theory, it is pathetic, to see such a great mind inexorably dissolve. But is another made-for-television-like film about Alzheimers really necessary? Jim Broadbent elicits our sympathy through his dogged allegiance to and love of Iris, but after one particularly crazy day he blows up at a bewildered Iris: "I hate you...after all these years I literally know nothing about you..."
The "light" scenes of the film with Kate Winslett and Hugh Bonneville though, are very charming and thoughtful. Winslett plays the young Iris as brazenly sexual and exceedingly intelligent and Bonneville is appropirately amazed and be-fuddled that this extraordinarily beautiful girl would even give him a second look much less agree to marry him.
It is without any doubt that Iris Murdoch was a writer of the highest order: a woman who exalted education and language but what would she think of this film? I think she would find it overly-sentimental, mundane and simplistic: all the things that Iris Murdoch's transcendinngly thoughtful and intelligent writing is not.

Rating:
Summary: Moving and Beautifully Acted.
Review: Iris is one of the most intelligent films I've seen in a very
long time. This is not a big over-hyped hollywood blockbuster,
but a small british film with superb performances from all four
actors.Dame Judy Dench was Brilliant as the elder Iris, and her
tragic decline from Alzheimer's was heartbreaking to watch. As
the young Iris, Kate Winslet was superb in capturing the youth,
energy, and brillance of a young woman in the prime of her life. Hugh Bonneville and Jim Broadbent were both wonderful as the younger and elder John Bailey, Iris's devoted husband and caretaker of forty years. This moving film beautifully portrayed
the pain, anger, and helplessness a loved-one feels to watch a
beloved spouse slowly fade away into an infantile stranger. As
someone who watched their grandmother suffer from this horrible
disease, this film really struck an emotional cord with me. I highly recomend this lovely, little gem of a film. P.S. Bring plenty of kleenex!

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and poignant
Review: This is such a beautiful film, and although it's sad I didn't find it depressing. The setting is drab - in fact, most of it is filmed in a dilapidated old house - but the effective use of flash-backs and the four superb, Oscar-worthy performances of Judi Dench, Jim Broadbent, Kate Winslet and Hugh Bonville shine and make this movie something truly exceptional. See it.

Rating:
Summary: Kudos for Dame Judi Dench and Hugh Bonneville
Review: I've never read any book by the British author, Iris Murdoch, and I doubt that I'll get around to it. However, my decision to ignore literature of probably better quality than I usually choose does not detract from my admiration for the film IRIS, with the title role played by Dame Judi Dench.

Murdoch died in 1999 of Alzheimer's Disease, and IRIS is a poignant and sad chronicle of her descent into mental darkness. (Also currently in theaters is the magnificent film A BEAUTIFUL MIND, starring Russell Crowe, which showcases schizophrenia. It's been a good year for mental maladies.) The tragedy of the IRIS story is emphasized by the heavy use of flashbacks, in which a young and free-spirited Murdoch, played effectively by Kate Winslet, is compared to the aging and deteriorating version portrayed by Dame Judi. Indeed, one of the most notable aspects of the production is the casting, which impressively manages to present to the audience both "young" and "old" versions of both Murdoch and her husband, John Bayley, that actually resemble each other. (I admit, a lot of the credit must likely go to the studio's Makeup Department, but still ...) The "young" Bayley is depicted by Hugh Bonneville, and the "old" version by Jim Broadbent. Bonneville is absolutely superb - a Best Supporting Actor Oscar is due - as the stammering, awkward, virginal and painfully shy 29-year old geek that wins the heart of young Iris. (This provides evidence, I guess, that even the Nerdy Guy sometimes get the Most Popular Girl.)

In an earlier review of 2001's THE SHIPPING NEWS, I remarked that Dench's competent performance in that film wasn't anything exceptional considering her great talent. On the other hand, her portrayal of the elderly and mentally decomposing Murdoch in IRIS is perhaps the greatest role I've ever seen her perform. It's undoubtedly Best Actress caliber.

IRIS takes an unsparing look at Alzheimer's Disease and the toll it takes both on the afflicted and the caregiver. It's not one to see if you're looking for a mood boost, but see it anyway.

Rating:
Summary: The destruction of a gifted mind by Alzheimer's disease
Review: "Iris" was a most disturbing film for me to watch, although I know exactly why it affected me so. Ever since I learned that H. L. Mencken spent the final years of his life incapacitated by a stroke that made it impossible for him to read and write (or to remember nouns), the idea of losing my mental faculties has been pretty much the worst of all possible fates for me. Similar ground is covered in "Iris," as the novelist Iris Murdoch has her mind, her marriage, and her life destroyed by Alzheimer's disease. Of course the film makes me uncomfortable; it should make anybody uncomfortable to watch a human being's life come undone like this.

The screenplay by Richard Eyre and Charles Wood, based on the books "Iris: A Memory" and "Elegy for Iris" by her husband John Bayley, attempts to convey cinematically what has been lost. Consequently we cut back and forth between the present, as John (Jim Broadbent) struggles to take care of his beloved Iris (Judi Dench), and disjointed scenes from the past, as young John (Hugh Bonneville) and Iris (Kate Winslet) meet and fall in love. Sometimes they are brief glimpses, other times extended scenes, combining to provide a disjointed pictures of these two lives.

I was surprised that I do not especially remember Iris Murdoch as a novelist; I know that I have never read any of her books. So my sense of what a great mind was lost is based entirely on what we see of Iris at the top of her game in the film. Clearly "Iris" is a film that presents these lives in fragments and pieces. We never fully understand why Iris decides to marry Jim; it must have been a superb meeting of the minds, but that is not the sense we get from the film where Jim is pretty much an amiable fuddy duddy. "Iris" is about the end and the beginning of a relationship, with a giant gap in the middle. Still, this film is about the growing gaps that appeared in the lives of this couple, so it is hard to say such an approach is unjustified. Again, if "Iris" is an unsettling film, then we have to remember that it should be.

The acting by the four principles is first rate, although I want to make special mention of Hugh Bonneville because he was the only one of the quartet not to receive an Oscar nomination. Bonneville does as fine of a creating a younger Broadbent as Kate Winslet does a younger Judi Dench, but apparently that is a thankless job.

Rating:
Summary: Love Till Death Do Part
Review: John Bayley and Iris Murdoch were married for a long time and were in love. It wasn't always a bed of roses but they stood by one another even when she was stricken with Alzheimer's disease. John did what he could for his wife but he knew he couldn't do it alone.
For anyone who thinks that love and marriage are dead, watch this movie. Love and marriage isn't dead. Their marriage strengthened through time which made them have a profound respect for one another and a strong love that bonded them together.

Rating:
Summary: ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL WOMAN
Review: For those who prefer brief reviews: "IRIS" starring Judi Dench and Kate Winslet is a heart-wrenching film that speaks splendidly of LOVE: joys & sorrows all-in-one.

Images of the young Iris (Kate Winslet) & the man she will marry change like a jazz segue to the characters in their older years . . . and so quickly you MUST believe that Kate & Dame Judi are the same person! Which is not to take away from the power of Jim Broadbent ~~ in his illuminating role as the elder John Bayley.

So vibrant and convincing! One magical scene after another; and then, the devastation caused by what reviewer Fionan Meade called "the cruel erasure of Alzheimer's". But the themes of love and creativity cannot be diminished.

Many readers & film-goers will ultimately face dealing with this disease and it will be a heart-breaking & back-breaking experience. Reviewer mcHAIKU believes there is courage to be found in this adaptation and recommends it without reservation.


Rating:
Summary: "There is only one freedom that matters--that of the mind."
Review: When author/philosopher Iris Murdoch utters these words, she has no way of knowing that Alzheimer's disease will soon rob her of that freedom, leaving her the frustrated shell of who and what she was. Author of twenty-six books and winner of both the Whitbread and the Booker Prizes, Iris, at the end of her life, was, according to her husband, like "A very nice three-year-old child." The love story of Iris Murdoch, a free-spirited, passionate lover of arts and ideas, and John Bayley, the shy, introverted man who was her anchor in life, dominates this film, celebrating her life, even as Alzheimer's disease robs it of its meaning.

Directed by Richard Eyre, who converted John Bayley's book, A Memoir and Elegy for Iris, into the screenplay, the film honors Iris, John Bayley, and the love that survived even Alzheimer's disease. Judi Dench not only looks like Iris Murdoch, but also endows her with fierce independence, a curiosity about the meaning of life, and a strong will, characteristics which served Iris well, even in her decline. Jim Broadbent, who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, shows his love for her at the same time that he becomes enormously frustrated at his helplessness in dealing with her decline.

Alternating between present and past, director Eyre develops innumerable visual parallels, showing Murdoch as a wild young girl (passionately played by Kate Winslett), uninhibitedly exploring every aspect of life, with Dench repeating similar scenes (such as the swimming scenes) late in life. The young John Bayley (Hugh Bonneville) plays his role so close in style to Broadbent that except for the obvious age differences, they could well be the same person, both blushing on cue. These four brilliant actors are completely successful in merging time frames to create two complete characters--Iris Murdoch and John Bayley.

The obvious symbolism and deliberate parallels between the early and late lives of Iris and John Bayley will not escape any viewer, making the sad changes in Iris's mind even more agonizing to watch, particularly for anyone who has faced Alzheimer's with a loved one. As Iris herself observes, "I feel as if I'm sailing into darkness." Beautifully filmed by Roger Pratt, the exteriors, including the water scenes, show the vastness of the world that Iris loved to explore, while the interiors show her claustrophobic confinement and the robbing of her soul. Not an easy film to watch, it is nevertheless a brilliant achievement celebrating the endurance of love, even in the face of Alzheimer's disease. Mary Whipple


Rating:
Summary: And I thought "Sylvia" was a waste of an evening...
Review: I'm not qualified to disagree with the glowing reviews of the acting, etc., but I was annoyed by the way the flashbacks were done. I suppose it was a metaphor for what Iris must have been going through.

But LOTS of people are slutty or succumb to Alzheimer's. What made Iris noteworthy was her writing. To focus on the former and almost entirely omit the latter is shamelessly manipulative, and it made my girlfriend, who lost a grandparent to Alzheimer's, cry.

I suppose the moral of the story is: Don't watch movies; read books instead.

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful, Well-told film...
Review: This is a wonderful film filled with the joy of words, of love, and of life. The tragic beauty portrayed by Judi Dench is wonderful to behold and the alluring magic of Kate Winslet is fantastic. Jim Broadbent brings his trademark perfection to the role of a man fighting to become part of a world that is hidden in the mind of the woman he loves, only to find that HE is the definition of her world. This is a beautiful film.