Iris Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
Her greatest talent was for life
A moving and tender depiction of the novelist Iris Murdoch's descent into Alzheimer's Disease, covering the period from just before her marriage to intellectual John Bayley until her death. The film is based on the two books by John Bayley (Iris, Iris & The Friends).
| Kate Winslet | Young Iris Murdoch |
| Hugh Bonneville | Young John Bayley |
| Judi Dench | Iris Murdoch |
| Jim Broadbent | John Bayley |
| Eleanor Bron | Principal |
| Angela Morant | Hostess |
| Penelope Wilton | Janet Stone |
| Siobhan Hayes | Check-Out Girl |
| Juliet Aubrey | Young Janet Stone |
| Joan Bakewell | BBC Presenter |
| Nancy Carroll | BBC PA |
| Kris Marshall | Dr. Gudgeon |
| Tom Mannion | Neurologist |
| Derek Hutchinson | Postman |
| Samuel West | Young Maurice |
| Richard Eyre |
7.10 out of 10 (6092 votes)
Visitor Reviews
A sad, wonderful love story
posted on 26 Aug 2009This film could easily have become another disease-of-the-week movie. But thanks to Judi Dench, Jim Broadbent, Kate Winslet and Hugh Bonneville, what we get is a shattering, beautiful love story about the devastating effects of Alzheimers on a brilliant mind.The film seamlessly shifts between the present and the past.The performances are all terrific and Winslet is marvelous. She deserves an Academy Award, though she'll likely lose to Jennifer Connelly who was good in the dreadful (and much more popular) "A Beautiful Mind."The revelation is Hugh Bonneville's performance as the young John Bayley. Bonneville obviously studied Broadbent's mannerisms and speech patterns. Not only is it believable that Bonneville is a younger Broadbent, but it helps immensely when the film shifts between Murdoch's past and present.There are moments in this film that are simultaneously beautiful, funny and sad. I won't give any of them away because you owe it to yourself to see this film, which runs only about 90 minutes.Winslet is radiant as the ebullient younger Murdoch; Dench who can make reading the phone book sound classy is wonderful, too. And Broadbent's performance is top-notch - you completely forget you're watching a performance. His outbursts, his quiet moments, his love for Iris ring completely true.If there is a flaw in this picture, it is director Richard Eyre's use of a musical score. There are times when the music overwhelms a scene. I wish he had trusted his actors and story to set the emotional tone. The scenes would have been more powerful without accompanying mood music. He should have taken a clue from Todd Field's direction in "In the Bedroom."But that one quibble aside, "Iris" is a sensational picture. It's a love story in the truest sense of the phrase.
.What is notable by its absence
posted on 14 Aug 2009Iris, directed by Richard Eyre, written by Eyre and Charles Wood, based on John Bayley's Iris: A Memoir and Elegy for Iris By David Walsh 5 April 2002Iris is a dull and uninspired film focusing on the mental deterioration of British novelist Iris Murdoch, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease, the neurodegenerative condition, from 1995 until her death four years later. The film is based on two memoirs by her husband of more than forty years, Oxford University professor and critic, John Bayley— Iris: A Memoir and Elegy for Iris. It unfolds in two inter-cut sections, covering the period during which Murdoch and Bayley first met, in the mid-1950s, and the years of her decline and death.Unhappily, upon the conclusion of the film the spectator knows next to nothing about the essential facts of Murdoch's life, about her writing, about her ideas, about the character of her relationship with Bayley, nor about British society and artistic life during the years in question. One grasps merely that Bayley was made miserable by his wife's plight, which is very understandable, and that Alzheimer's is a terrible condition.In other words, this is for the most part a systematic and mediocre withholding of information. The performers—Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent, Kate Winslet and Hugh Bonneville (as the older and younger couples, respectively)—are fine, more or less, but the film, directed by Richard Eyre, artistic director of Britain's National Theatre from 1988 to 1997, is frustrating and largely pointless.http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/apr2002/iris-a05.shtml
A worthwhile flick with two great ladies
posted on 17 Jul 2009A really touching film, Iris opened up a whole new life to me of someone that I had personally never heard of. Judi Dench and Kate Winslet are really awesome - two British ladies who not only have class by talent by the truckload. As for the director, what a great first time out feature film debut (he's only listed with TV films to his credit up until this one). Also really opened my eyes to Alzheimer's, having never had any family members or anyone else I know afflicted by it. If you're in to more indie/euro films, this is really worth the watch. Classic English film making.
Painfully wonderful. A difficult movie to watch but one that demands respect.
posted on 05 Jul 2009Certainly more art than entertainment. Terrific performances, but the film really is dominated not by the awesome Dame Judith Dench but by her long-overlooked co-star Jim Broadbent, whose talent here warrants an Oscar nomination--and not for his target category of "Supporting Actor," but more properly for "Best Actor."
Incredibly Disappointing
posted on 01 Jul 2009Iris seemed to have all the makings of a great film at the outlook. It is supposed to be of an interesting person and who many consider a genius. The cast seems to amazingly put together and the film is made of a notable director. Yet this film is lacking a lot in many aspects.Now the acting is the one thing that was not lacking, especially considering the way the rest of the movie went. The performances were the only thing that gave me hope for a fulfilling movie. Especially when it came to that of a prominent couple and a famous well rounded woman. That woman is played by two of the finest actresses; Kate Winslet and Judi Dench play Iris Murdoch at the opposite ends of her life. These casting choices were perfect as well as the choice of Jim Broadbent who plays the role of the older Jim Bayley. These choices are ideal and the film is came some what alive only because of them. They gave depth to their roles were not too much was given and made us feel emotions for characters that didn't come off as too interesting in the film.Where this film does very much fail is the directing and writing by Ricard Eyre. The pacing of the film is horrible and our view of Iris Murdoch and Jim Bayley is extremely limited. Rather than them coming across as intellectuals, we are simply just told they are that. The story basically surrounds that of Iris Murdoch's battle with Alzheimer's disease and for not really any logical reason the telling of her early life is wasted. If you take Murdoch and Bayley for what they are in the film they come off as desperate and pathetic. Also in the movie their is not enough of a build up towards the end to make us feel anything emotional towards the characters. The film drags on with no climax at all and this movie is only about 90 minutes. This movie was supposed to be a short romance instead of a biopic and that proved to be very costly in a very boring and seemingly pointless film.
Yes to Judi Dench, no to Kate Winslet
posted on 21 Jun 2009Glenda Jackson once made a film called Stevie, about the poet Stevie Smith--she wrote the much-anthologized poem Not Waving But Drowning. Jackson's performance stood for many years as my ideal of what a filmed representation of a writer's life should be. Now we have Judi Dench's wonderful rendering of the elderly Iris Murdoch, and it is one of the finest things she has done. I liked the way Dame Judi gave us the strength as well as the frailty and fear of a writer losing her mind.Kate Winslet just can't rise to the challenge of the young Iris, a character too Protean for her. The intense intellectual searching, the bisexuality, it all gets glossed over by Winslet. She seemed to be doing a reprise of Sue Bridehead, the ultimate bluestocking, in Jude. Jim Broadbent did a wonderful job as the older Bayley; he is every bit the equal of Judi Dench. Finally, I'd like to recommend that people read a Murdoch novel, The Sea, The Sea would be a good pick. It's amazing that A Severed Head is still the ONLY book that has been filmed.
A disappointment
posted on 17 Jun 2009I expected to be fully engaged with the film being an admirer of both Bayley and Murdoch. Alas, it was not to be. Maybe one day Iris will be honoured more fully in a film about her life, or even by one of her incredible books being filmed.This film focused so much on the awful disease of Alzheimers that overtook her and her husband's infinite care and patience with the effects of this on her. John Bayley is an admirable human being for not giving up but staying as a loving mother hen with a truly handicapped and helpless chick.But this is not the Iris I went to see. Winslet was wonderful as the younger Iris, captivating both men and women with her wit and beauty. I needed to see more of that and hear more of her words.It is not clear in this movie as to what she saw in Bayley. He has a hangdog look, very meek and accommodating and there is a particular scene on bicyles repeated over and over where he is yelling for her to slow down as he wants to "catch up". I found it insulting to the intelligence, so she finally did slow down and he did catch up, duh. I assume that was the point.Her true brilliance is not shown here. Judi reflects the dimmer Iris beautifully. She is a master at multi-layered performances. She must get an Oscar for one of her roles this year.I gave it a 6 out of 10.Jim Broadbent is excellent also, depicting Bayley in an almost eerie reincarnation, limp hands, high waist and hunched. If the film had been called "Bayley" I think it would have been truer to the movie.
Great *YAWN* performances but....
posted on 08 Apr 2009Jim Broadbent won an Oscar for Best Performance by a Supporting Actor for his portrayal of John Bayley, a wonderful literary critic and spouse of the late Iris Murdoch whom the movie is about. It was a well-deserved Oscar (and I'm sure his very different role in Moulin Rogue the same year had some play in it). All four of the actors (Hugh Bonneville played the Younger Bayley and Kate Winslet/Judi Dench played Iris) turned in some of the finest acting I have ever seen. Judi Dench was way more worthing of the Oscar than that horrible performance put in by Halle Berry in "Monster's Ball". Hugh Bonneville didn't get enough recognition for his fine acting IMHO.However, despite the wonderful performances and the wonderful subject matter, I can not recommend this movie. There was no plot. Just two different stories juxtaposed together neither one delivering the goods. The movie makes Bayley look like a bumbling idiot which he is not. The movie does nothing to explain their relationship - just a little bit of when they met and then when they are old. The movie ended leaving me very dissatisfied - I didn't know any more about the great Iris Murdoch than before watching it.
Very well-acted
posted on 25 Mar 2009`Iris' was regarded as one of the best well-acted films of 2001. The film is based on the real life story of Iris Murdoch. She was a legendary free-spirited british writer who suffered from Alzheimer's Disease in her latter years. Judi Dench was fantastic as Iris. Oh! Judi! Judi! Judi! You did it again! Jim Broadbent, who won the best supporting actor oscar for his performance as Iris' devoted husband John Bailey, is one of the most underrated actors around. His acting talents are definitely `broad' enough to take notice. Kate Winslet executed a titanic performance as the free-spirited young Iris. Also, `hugh' should take notice to Hugh Boneville's performance as the young Bailey. Even though `Iris' does drag at times and may make your iris eyes wander off; it is still a very important film about love, triumph, and alzheimer.
*** Average
Excellent acting doesn't always make a good film
posted on 07 Mar 2009My father enjoyed it, my wife fell asleep. I found it was long and tedious. Indeed the acting was brilliant, touching, impessive and English was properly spoken. It was much better than 99% of Yank films, no doubt about it. However, it creaked, took too long and evoced bathos rather than pathos.
Excellent acted and nicely done but it's a tad dull..
posted on 21 Feb 2009I felt that I should have liked "Iris". I mean it undeniably has great acting from Dame Judi Dench (the titular character) and, especially, Jim Broadbent (her suffering husband). Dench is brilliant portraying Iris Murdoch, the renowned writer, who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. It's almost painful to watch her at times. Similarly Broadbent, the mild mannered husband, also shines. The two actually come across as a couple of body and soul as opposed to the traditional Hollywood couple who are only ever joined in flesh, not mind.The story often flicks back to Iris as a young woman - played by Kate Winslett - in an attempt to show how their relationship developed. This is all fine but the cuts sometimes jar. It's not that they're done abruptly but they're not always smoothly woven in with the present day plot-line. You can be left wondering which is the main story.And now why I didn't love the movie... I found it dull. I got bored. The directing left little to the imagine - perfectly grand but it had a TV drama feel to it. The story-line was not obviously convoluted (we only had 90 minutes to work with) and yet it never grabbed me. It's no fault of the acting - I've praised them enough already - but I just failed to be engaged by the story. Additionally it's quite depressing - particularly towards the end - which didn't add to my enjoyment. It's the acting that lifts "Iris" above mediocrity. Taking this into account I'll give it a 6.5/10. Dull but worthy as they say.
A poem that just happens to involve a real person
posted on 28 Jan 2009Roger Ebert didn't like this movie. Iris Murdoch the writer was too important to him for him to be able to appreciate the movie. I have never read Iris Murdoch and have knowledge of her at all because of the movie. As a result I was thoroughly pleased and able to see beyond the hopes and expectations of a biography and into the reality and the extreme beauty of this production. Judi Dench, what more can you say after perfect? Jim Broadbent I thought was a bit over the top, but then I researched the character a bit and think that he got him absolutely dead on. (Take a look at Murdoch and Bayley on the Iris Murdoch Society website if you have any doubts.)Winslett as the young Iris was such inspired casting that an Oscar should have been made for casting. One can see the older Iris in Winslett's performance (or is it Dench giving us the younger?)Some reviewers say that this movie has no plot. What a sad commentary on the state of art that a film must be so plot driven that there is no place for a tone poem that rings with the bittersweet peals of life, or the lonely plop of a pebble thrown in the water. Iris is a tone poem and a glance at a life lived more fully than most.
Take the words from her mouth.
posted on 18 Jan 2009Kudos to director Richard Eyre of this 2001 bio-drama about Iris Murdoch, Irish-born novelist,philosopher and lover of the written word. This film is a passionate look at the melodramatic relationship between the free-spirited and sexual libertine Murdoch(Judi Dench)and the scholarly and timid, virtual virgin John Bayley(Jim Broadstreet). Both acclaimed and well respected for their own accomplishments. Iris known for her novels that were usually sexual and ethical. Bayley, the Oxford scholar, sexually frustrated worshiper of Iris. The story line begins with the couple's meeting and attraction; Kate Winslet playing the young Murdoch and Hugh Bonneville as Bayley. Early on, Iris is the dominate of the soul mates as Bayley lives in the shadow of his famous wife. Later in life it is Bayley that becomes the doting and devoted caretaker of the Alzheimer's ravaged Iris. Dementia robbing from her those words that made her world. Dench and Winslet are superb.
A poem that just happens to involve a real life
posted on 25 Dec 2008Roger Ebert didn't like this movie. Iris Murdoch the writer was too important to him for him to be able to appreciate the movie. I have never read Iris Murdoch and have knowledge of her at all because of the movie. As a result I was thoroughly pleased and able to see beyond the hopes and expectations of a biography and into the reality and the extreme beauty of this production. Judi Dench, what more can you say after perfect? Jim Broadbent I thought was a bit over the top, but then I researched the character a bit and think that he got him absolutely dead on. (Take a look at Murdoch and Bayley on the Iris Murdoch Society website if you have any doubts.)Winslet as the young Iris was such inspired casting that an Oscar should have been made for casting. One can see the older Iris in Winslet's performance (or is it Dench giving us the younger?)Some reviewers say that this movie has no plot. What a sad commentary on the state of art that a film must be so plot driven that there is no place for a tone poem that rings with the bittersweet peals of life, or the lonely plop of a pebble thrown in the water. Iris is a tone poem and a glance at a life lived more fully than most.
Alzheimer and love
posted on 07 Dec 2008Firstly, this film is a biography of Murdoch. This woman very important England and world as well.As you watch this film, you can feel what is the hardness of Alzheimer illness. You are related an Alzheimer person , it is a very very tough thing. Furthermore you can learn somethings about love. Egs: Meantime, have patience.(Shakespeare, William). A little more patience. (Hugo, Victor).I begged his patience to hear me tell my story, which I faithfully did from the last time I left England to the moment he first discovered me. (Swift, Jonathan).As a consequence, if you are fall in love, you will see anything. iris shows us very very impressive things about emotion.
Hollow film, fine acting
posted on 01 Dec 2008Iris Murdoch certainly did, as this film shows, suffer from Alzheimer's disease at the end of her life. For all I know, she may have been, when a student at Oxford, the sexy good-time girl portrayed here by Kate Winslet. It is not, however, for either of these things that she is remembered, but rather for what she did during the intervening period when she became one of Britain's leading novelists as well as a philosopher of some distinction.The life of a novelist presents a problem for film makers, greater than the problems of filming the lives of other creative artists. The camera can show us an artist's paintings; we can hear a composer's music on the soundtrack; poems can be read aloud. There is no way in which the essence of a novel can be portrayed on screen in the same way; we just have to take it on trust that so-and-so really is a great writer. This doubtless explains why filmed biographies of writers are uncommon compared with those of painters or musicians; if the Bronte sisters have been something of an exception, that has more to do with the tragedy of their early deaths than with anything they wrote.The director and scriptwriter of this film attempt to solve this problem by avoiding it altogether. The film concentrates entirely on the period in the nineties leading up to Iris's death, intercut with scenes from her student days in the fifties, when she first met her husband John Bayley. The sixties, seventies and eighties are not shown at all, although it was during this period that she wrote most of the works on which her fame now rests. As a result, the film seems hollow and unbalanced. We get little sense that we are not just watching an old lady slowly going senile but witnessing the decay of a once-powerful intellect.Despite this, the film still manages to have some emotional impact, largely due to the fine acting of Jim Broadbent as Iris's caring husband and, even more so, to the performance of the hugely talented Dame Judi Dench as Iris herself. I was less happy with the actors who portrayed the couple in their younger days. I have difficulty in believing that Iris Murdoch was ever as glamorous as Kate Winslet's character, and the casting of Hugh Bonneville as the young John Bayley was a mistake. He is at least ten years Miss Winslet's senior, and looks even older, so one is left with the curious impression that Iris was much younger than her husband at the time of their marriage, but around the same age at the time of her death.6/10, largely due to two fine performances.
Broadbent is the man!!!
posted on 21 Nov 2008Starring Judi Dench, Kate Winslet, Jim Broadbent, and Hugh Bonneville in the story about author Iris Murdoch and her marriage to author John Bayley and their struggle as Murdoch suffers through Alzheimer's disease. Wonderful performances make `Iris' one of 2001s finest films, especially from Broadbent (`Moulin Rouge'), who won for Best Actor for his heart wrenching portrayal as Bayley living with his ailing wife. ***
What is mind ?
posted on 14 Oct 2008Is mind the result of complex *physical* interactions between cells? Can cells have consciousness of 'them'selves? Or is mind the result of a spiritual entity imprisoned in matter? How does one explain that 'mind' disappears with a hard blow from a hammer?
How does one explain that 'mind' knows that it knows? This film asks all the right questions and give only one answer: in the end, only 'love' matters. But what is love? This a hugely important film. The actors are all superb. I have long ago despaired from seeing this kind of film coming from Hollywood, but who knows? Perhaps Sept.11 will make some people mature a bit.
Excellent
posted on 26 Sep 2008I was not familiar with Iris Murdoch's works or with Bayley's writings about her, so I came to the movie with a blank slate and an open mind. I knew that this film had been nominated for several Academy Awards, but I only recently saw it and I was glad that I did. Every performance was certainly deserving of the award nominations received and, in the case of Broadbent, won. "Iris" succeeded in providing an interesting, intelligent, compassionate, realistic portrayal of life-long love between complicated personalities. Having watched elderly relatives struggle to cope with infirmities in those they have been married to for over 60 years, Broadbent's depiction of frustration, pain, regret, bursts of anger, and despair rang very true to me. Kate Winslet's portrayal of the young Iris was very interesting to me although I didn't understand all of Iris' motivations. Judi Dench's rendering of the failing Iris was excruciating to watch. A good film and I recommend it.
A beautiful, sad and moving film
posted on 30 Aug 2009This movie was one of those ultimate rarities: a winner that I picked off the shelf at the local (Blockbuster) video store without so much as a summary beyond what was on the packaging. Dame Dench is stunning, as are her supporting actors. The interplay between the aging Murdoch and the youthful one is managed skillfully. It does, as it promises, end up being far more about love than about illness. One particular scene was brilliant: the juxtaposition of Iris, with great pain, noticing that John has observed her failing memory and the young John's excrutiating peeking in on Iris in her merry, Erica-Jong-this-is-just-sex-nobody-gets-hurt escapade. Don't miss seeing this marvelous movie. I'd give it a 10, but even Bo Derek doesn't deserve that.