Iris is the title of a
film relating
Iris Murdoch's last years suffering from
Alzheimer's in parallel with the story of her courtship with her husband, academic John Bayley.
Judi Dench and
Kate Winslet play elder and younger Irises, and Jim Bonneville her aging husband.
Critical opinion is divided over this film. Is it a touching, understated, tender and moving portayal of a transferal of dependance in a couple? On the other hand, is it a study in manipulative, formulaic, and platitudinous cinema? It is generally agreed by critics and audiences alike that more emphasis should have been placed on her actual books, and less on the onset of Murdoch's illness. Each camp of critics have their points, but much depends on your dispotions to films of this genre. For once Kate Winslet is not embarassing to watch, and Dench is magnificent, but Broadbent gives the best performance as a husband struggling to cope with his wife's deterioration into incoherence.