This was a film from 2001 that escaped my viewing for too long. I came and went in the theaters and the only reviewer that I read at the time, Mr. Ebert, only gave it two stars. But then, three of its four leads were nominated for Oscars and Jim Broadbent (BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY) won best supporting actor. I must admit that before this movie I didn't know who Iris Murdoch was. The movie wasn't a highlight reel of her life's accomplishments, but captured her ideas and nature and wrapped it into a larger poem on the cruelty of Alzheimer's disease.
The film flashes back from the 1950s to the 1990s looking at Iris at the beginning of her career (Kate Winslet, HEAVENLY CREATURES) and then at the end of her life played by Dame Judi Dench (MRS. BROWN). However, you could argue that the film's central character is Iris' husband John Bayley played by Hugh Bonneville (MANSFIELD PARK) as a young man and Broadbent older.
First and foremost all four performances are amazing. Bonneville deserved a nomination just as much as the three well known leads. Winslet is electric as the young vibrant writer and forward thinker. Her bold passion makes her irresistible to Bonneville's John, while causing him great trepidation as well. It's hard to be in love with a free spirit sometimes. But the highs are great as long as you can handle the lows. In Broadbent and Dench, we get a touching and almost too hard to bare story of love toward the end of life. Broadbent is lucky to be given a role that doesn't make Bayley a saint. Alzheimer's is infuriating and Bayley breaks at times. But Broadbent focuses his resentments toward the disease not the women he loves. This element is crucial.
Next thing I must address is that if you’re a big fan of Murdoch's written work this may not be the film for you. I really think that's why Ebert gave it two stars, because his love for Murdoch's prose clouded his view of what he wanted from the film. What I got from the film is a layered portrayal of a brilliant mind who loved education and words and tragically had that all taken away from her. At first the disease scares Iris, but after a point she can't remember her old self enough to know what she is missing and only her loved ones are left tortured by what has been lost.
The film deals with the ideas of love, tenderness, kindness and loss. It's an interesting question that the film proposes — who suffers more in the film Iris or John, who must watch the woman he has loved so dearly for 40-plus years turn into a child who can't even understand the TELETUBBIES? Director Richard Eyre makes the right decision to avoid making this a "disease of the week" film or as I mention before an Iris Murdoch highlight reel. The film takes on a larger metaphor about true love and the human connection. Like THE YOUNG MR. LINCOLN, this film takes a historical figure and uses facts about their lives to paint an artistic tale. The film is honest and heartbreaking, and dare I say brilliant.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
