Iris (2001)

Directed by: Richard Eyre | 91 minutes | drama, biography | Actors: Kate Winslet, Hugh Bonneville, Judi Dench, Jim Broadbent, Eleanor Bron, Angela Morant, Penelope Wilton, Siobhan Hayes, Juliet Aubrey, Joan Bakewell, Nancy Carroll, Kris Marshall, Tom Mannion, Derek Hutchinson, Samuel West, Saira Todd, Juliet Howland, Charlotte Arkwright, Harriet Arkwright, Matilda Allsopp, Steve Edis, Emma Handy, Timothy West, Stephen Marcus, Pauline McLynn, Gabrielle Reidy

The British writer and philosopher Iris Murdoch (1919 – 1999) lived her life in several worlds. According to her life partner John Bayley, she often withdrew into her thoughts, especially when she was writing. At a party at Saint Anne’s College in Oxford in 1954, she met Bayley, who would later become a professor of English, six years her junior. In 1956 they got married. Iris had a very free morality for that time and maintained relationships with many different men, often with several at the same time. So Bayley had to share his wife with others. There were rumors that she would also have relationships with women, but the writer has always denied that. Murdoch led a productive life. In addition to her novels and other work as an author, she often lectured around the world, about her work as a writer as well as philosophy. Iris Murdoch died of Alzheimer’s in 1999. Just before her death, Bayley published his autobiographical book ‘Elegy For Iris’ about his life with the writer. A year later, ‘Iris And Her Friend’ followed. The film ‘Iris’ (2001) was based on those two books.

The renowned writer Iris Murdoch (Judi Dench) gets lost during a television interview about her new book and drops off with her tail between her legs. Her husband John Bayley (Jim Broadbent) suspects something is wrong with her, but does his best to keep her genius brain, so fond of language, attentive. Together they bring back many memories of the past. About how they met each other in the late 1940s. The wimpy John (Hugh Bonneville) is immediately impressed by the flamboyant and high-spirited Iris (Kate Winslet). They are soul mates and made for each other. But Iris doesn’t want to give up her riotous love life and finds it difficult to let John into her mind. The much younger and still inexperienced John Bayley often doesn’t know what to do with his infatuation and jealousy. Iris’ unrestrained passion was the main source of inspiration for her books, in which the central theme was the pursuit of happiness and absolute freedom. However, that freedom is increasingly jeopardized when the doctors examine the older Iris and make the verdict: Iris suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. Dementia takes her more and more and John suffers from the fact that his once intelligent and eloquent wife is slowly but surely deteriorating.

‘Iris’ is first and foremost a beautiful love story about two people who, despite their contradictions, choose to grow old together. In addition, director Richard Eyre (who would make ‘Notes on a Scandal’ (2006) five years later with Dench) paints a penetrating portrait of a once brilliant woman who is slowly turning into a wreck due to the lingering dementia. Anyone who has ever experienced Alzheimer’s disease up close will certainly recognize the situations in which Iris ends up. In the beginning she occasionally repeats herself without realizing it, in the end she lives completely in her own little world. The fact that her very spirit made her so special makes the situation painfully ironic – how the ‘most brilliant woman in England’ ends up with the ‘Teletubbies’. That the story is told from the perspective of John Bayley gives an extra dimension to the story. He watches patiently as his beloved wife becomes more and more gripped by the debilitating dementia. His love for Iris has been put to the test all along, we learn from the flashbacks. The biggest challenge, however, awaits him only after forty years of marriage. Eyre, who is also responsible for the script, ensures that this modest love drama never becomes soggy or dreamy, but always keeps both feet on the ground.

To make a film like ‘Iris’ succeed you need brilliant actors. And Eyre managed to gather them around him. Judi Dench, the grande dame of British cinema, once again demonstrates her unsurpassed acting talent with this intense role. From a free-spirited woman with a strong mind you see her gradually dying. The powerful glance degenerates into a series of empty glances. Dench puts down a completely believable Iris. The role of the young Iris, played by the also very talented Kate Winslet, offers a lot less of a challenge. Despite this, the actress is all about it. However, the absolute star of the film is Jim Broadbent. As the elder John Bayley, he strikes just the right chord with the viewer. His immense love for a woman who has never chosen him one hundred percent is very touching. Hugh Bonneville, who plays the younger Bayley, is also at a high level. It is also striking that he resembles Broadbent like two drops of water. Congratulations for the casting! Dench (leading role) and Winslet (supporting role) received an Oscar nomination and Broadbent was even allowed to take home the coveted golden statue for best supporting actor – and quite rightly. Camera work, editing and musical accompaniment are taken care of down to the last detail.

To pass for a biopic about the life of Iris Murdoch, the film does not elaborate enough on the period in which she wrote her most important works. But the makers seem to have made a conscious choice to highlight her relationship with Bayley and her battle with Alzheimer’s. And that choice was the right one. Thanks to the excellent acting by Broadbent and Dench in particular, you are drawn into the story, even though you know very little about Murdoch – and certainly not about Bayley. Not everyone will be open to this film. Lovers of action and suspense should avoid ‘Iris’. This film will undoubtedly be too ‘boring’ for them. However, if you like realistic drama and balanced romance, then this beautiful film is definitely recommended!