Iris. 2001. Directed by Richard Eyre.

Richard Eyre’s Iris (2001) was an equally beautiful and sad telling of the magnificent life of Iris Murdoch. The screenplay by Richard Eyre and Charles Wood based on John Bayley’s books “Iris: A Memoir” and “Elegy for Iris” relied on flashbacks. In general, flashbacks are not my favorite form of storytelling when the writers rely solely on this mechanism to tell the story. I think it diminished the young Iris’s story portrayed by Kate Winslet. Moreover, the present day Iris’s (Judi Dench) was understandable and easy to follow. Roger Pratt’s cinematography (12 Monkeys, Chocolat, and The Fisher King) was brilliant as usual. James Horner’s score grew more somber as Iris lost her mind to Alzheimer’s. At the heart of the story is the importance of love, philosophy, and writing which are near and dear to my heart. 

Viewed on HBOMAX.

🌹

i never told rosa how much i loved her or what she meant to me when things were bad. i spent her last few years introducing myself every time i saw her and having the same conversations over and over. gradually, my memories of her changed from the songs she would sing with me on her lap and the lion shaped pendant around her neck, to short visits once a year in a place none of us could call home. slowly and then all at once, she forgot my name and then everything about me, and i began to stop recognising her too. it is hard to go back there; those flats at the harbour, once so colourful, now just feel sad.

Kate Winslet STUNS in Oscar nominated (should've been winning) performance 😍
She graduated with a 4.0 GPA from the University of Cuntenserven with a major in Motherology. She was then approached by the director of this film and she ordered a gaguette at the bakery of hits, AND BEST BELIEVE that bakery is running OVERTIME cause she keeps buying all the gaguettes. This action then IMMEDIATELY caused a Motherquake that measured 10.0 on the Cunter scale and her PURE radiocuntivity just melted the Slaynobyl reactor and pussified the land for a thousands years- her performance is just THAT GOOD!

She = Kate
Ate = Winslet

I’ve always felt Judi Dench won her Oscar for the wrong performance. Notes on a Scandal, Philomena and now I can add Iris to list of performances of which she should have won instead of Shakespeare in Love. Iris, as a movie, is pretty mediocre and bluntly uninteresting but Dench (and Broadbent) give great performances in it.

Jim Broadbent won an Oscar for his role as John Bayley, the devoted husband of conflicted writer Iris Murdoch.

So there is justice in this world!

Broadbent is amazing, a revelation, and a complete heartbreaker as we watch through his eyes the fall of a great mind. Kate Winslet and Judi Dench are equally stunning as Iris, and they gave the viewer no doubt as to why John Bayley was madly in love with her.

Simply wrenching.

this week i’ll be watching a lot of kate movies bc i’m mourning mare of easttown being over :///

I think the single greatest thing about this film was casting Hugh Bonneville as the young Jim Broadbent.

It's also heavy in the way it presents Alzheimer's Disease in a realistic way. And that may just be enough about the film.

Hate to break it to you but Hugh Bonneville in this does it for me

It’s like Still Alice’s lesser known and muddled down cousin. But Dame Judi Dench gives it her all - delivering one of her best performances. She’s truly the only good part about the film.