But the two John Bayley actors were superb, purely sublime, especially Broadbent who won an AA for his supporting role. I find Winslet and Dench both unappealing and harsh, with zero charisma or star-quality, and I consider both to be vastly over-rated. The film seemed to me like a documentary. Not sure that it's a good idea to do a flick with the main character going through declining mental ability, struck me as unkind and nasty. I rate it 4/10. NB: Great to see an orchestra aping Harry James's wonderful "Cherry Pink". Costumes and sets very fine.

The film Iris, is about the author an philosifer by same name who lived from 15th of July until the 8th of February 1999. Iris is a very eccentric and independent woman, who meets a man named John. John is also a writer, and is as highly educated, as Iris is it. They share the same passion of writing and reading. They are eachothers opposites. John is very naive, shy and he studders. The way Iris knows her way with male friends, is having sex with them. John is not that experinced in life, and he thinks they are a couple. John sees Iris with another man in her apartment, and confronts her about it, and then she tells him, that he is the only one who knows her better than anyone else, and declares her love to him. They are getting married, but are not having any children. When Iris is about to write her new book, she forgets how to spell simple words. At an interview in a studio, Iris forgets how to explain properly about education. She is wondering about, what is happening, and John tries to calm her down. Iris is suffering from Alzheimers disease, and the disease is taken control of Iris, and then she is the one to be dependent on her husband. One day she leaves home, John tries to look for her every where he thinks she might be. An old friend comes to the house with Iris, and when John opens the door, he can not remember the person, who comes back with Iris. After this situation, and Iris' condition is getting worse, John realize that having Iris at home is very hard for him, and he wants her at a nursing home, where they are professionals in Alzheimer's disease, and they have the knowledge needed , so they can take good care of Iris in a proper way. Shortly after arriving at the nursing home, Iris dies with John by her side. A very good film, that describes the Alzheimer's disease in a very good way, and also how you can react to the disease as a relative, when you still have hope for your loved ones.

Iris is a biographical picture that tells a true story of British novelist Iris Murdoch and her relationship with John Bayley. It contrasts the start of their relationship, when Murdoch was an outgoing, dominant individual as compared to her timid and scholarly partner Bayley, and their their old age,when Murdoch was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and tended to by a frustrated Bayley in their North Oxford home in Charlbury Road.This film stars Judi Dench as Iris,Kate Winslet as the young Iris,Jim Broadbent as John and Hugh Bonneville as the young John.The screenplay was written by Richard Eyre and Charles Wood Bayley's memoir "Elegy for Iris" and it was directed also by Richard Eyre.The story is told wherein the young Iris Murdoch meets fellow student John Bayley at the University of Oxford, he is a naive virgin easily flummoxed by her libertine spirit, arch personality, and obvious artistic talent. It also tells in parallel their life decades later, little has changed and the couple keeps house, with John doting on his more famous wife when Iris begins experiencing forgetfulness and dementia.However, the devoted John struggles with hopelessness and frustration to become her caretaker, as his wife's mind deteriorates from the ravages of Alzheimer's disease.This is a touching film about two people who love each other and it gives us insights the pain and suffering that people undergo when stricken by Alzheimer's disease and the pain experienced by the people surrounding them.The performances of all four actors are worthy of praise especially Judi Dench,who captured the older Iris.The only thing about it that it failed to get a perfect rating is that the film isn't powerful and compelling enough to make it a great film.But regardless of the reason stated,Iris is a highly recommended for everyone who like great romantic stories.

Jim Broadbent won a well deserved Oscar for his work in this film, leaving Kate Winslet and Dame Judi Dench as also-rans for once. Iris Murdoch was a fantastic writer, but the film is not about her, it's about her husband's loss of her to Alzheimer's. The flaw is that it keeps on focusing on her without showing us who she is. Because her talent was in her books and her mind, we are told what he's lost, we only get a sort of superficial Iris. We see literally, from the young John Bayley's perspective where their relationship sprung from, but learn little about why her work meant anything or even if it did really mean anything to him. We know she was was fantastic with words, but they're not in the script because while Winslet and Dench do a great job, the script is John's story. The fact that John Bayley was married to one of the greatest writers of the 20th century should not have distracted the directors attention from the fact that this story was never about her.