The screenplay by Richard Eyre and Charles Wood, based on the books "Iris: A Memory" and "Elegy for Iris" by her husband John Bayley, attempts to convey cinematically what has been lost. Consequently we cut back and forth between the present, as John (Jim Broadbent) struggles to take care of his beloved Iris (Judi Dench), and disjointed scenes from the past, as young John (Hugh Bonneville) and Iris (Kate Winslet) meet and fall in love. Sometimes they are brief glimpses, other times extended scenes, combining to provide a disjointed pictures of these two lives.

I was surprised that I do not especially remember Iris Murdoch as a novelist; I know that I have never read any of her books. So my sense of what a great mind was lost is based entirely on what we see of Iris at the top of her game in the film. Clearly "Iris" is a film that presents these lives in fragments and pieces. We never fully understand why Iris decides to marry Jim; it must have been a superb meeting of the minds, but that is not the sense we get from the film where Jim is pretty much an amiable fuddy duddy. "Iris" is about the end and the beginning of a relationship, with a giant gap in the middle. Still, this film is about the growing gaps that appeared in the lives of this couple, so it is hard to say such an approach is unjustified. Again, if "Iris" is an unsettling film, then we have to remember that it should be.

The acting by the four principles is first rate, although I want to make special mention of Hugh Bonneville because he was the only one of the quartet not to receive an Oscar nomination. Bonneville does as fine of a creating a younger Broadbent as Kate Winslet does a younger Judi Dench, but apparently that is a thankless job.

"There is only one freedom that matters--that of the mind."
Review date: 2004-12-25 Rating: 10 out of 10

When author/philosopher Iris Murdoch utters these words, she has no way of knowing that Alzheimer's disease will soon rob her of that freedom, leaving her the frustrated shell of who and what she was. Author of twenty-six books and winner of both the Whitbread and the Booker Prizes, Iris, at the end of her life, was, according to her husband, like "A very nice three-year-old child." The love story of Iris Murdoch, a free-spirited, passionate lover of arts and ideas, and John Bayley, the shy, introverted man who was her anchor in life, dominates this film, celebrating her life, even as Alzheimer's disease robs it of its meaning.

Directed by Richard Eyre, who converted John Bayley's book, A Memoir and Elegy for Iris, into the screenplay, the film honors Iris, John Bayley, and the love that survived even Alzheimer's disease. Judi Dench not only looks like Iris Murdoch, but also endows her with fierce independence, a curiosity about the meaning of life, and a strong will, characteristics which served Iris well, even in her decline. Jim Broadbent, who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, shows his love for her at the same time that he becomes enormously frustrated at his helplessness in dealing with her decline.

Alternating between present and past, director Eyre develops innumerable visual parallels, showing Murdoch as a wild young girl (passionately played by Kate Winslett), uninhibitedly exploring every aspect of life, with Dench repeating similar scenes (such as the swimming scenes) late in life. The young John Bayley (Hugh Bonneville) plays his role so close in style to Broadbent that except for the obvious age differences, they could well be the same person, both blushing on cue. These four brilliant actors are completely successful in merging time frames to create two complete characters.

The obvious symbolism and deliberate parallels between the early and late lives of Iris and John Bayley will not escape any viewer, making the sad changes in Iris's mind even more agonizing to watch, particularly for anyone who has faced Alzheimer's with a loved one. As Iris herself observes, "I feel as if I'm sailing into darkness." Beautifully filmed by Roger Pratt, the exteriors, including the water scenes, show the vastness of the world that Iris loved to explore, while the interiors show her claustrophobic confinement and the robbing of her soul. Not an easy film to watch, it is nevertheless a brilliant achievement celebrating the endurance of love, even in the face of Alzheimer's disease. Mary Whipple

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