Iris (2001)

Directed by Richard Eyre. Starring Jim Broadbent, Judi Dench, Kate Winslet, Hugh Bonneville, Penelope Wilton, Juliet Aubrey, Samuel West. [R]

Literate if dutiful and blinkered approach to a biographical tragedy defined by illness; in this case, the esteemed British writer, Iris Murdoch (Dench). She’s afflicted with Alzheimer’s late in her life, her mind disappearing into a fog, her husband John (Broadbent) losing hope and patience as time goes on. These arduous scenes are contrasted by flashbacks showing the two of them meeting as students at Oxford, when Murdoch was a passionate, lascivious artist. The opposing tones from the alternating time periods are too complacent in their “tasteful” clashes; it’s a subtle tearjerking tactic instead of a shameless one, but a tactic it still is, and the transitions are a constant reminder that the story is missing a very important middle piece (the part of Murdoch’s life where she got all that writing done). With so little devoted to Murdoch as a full-fledged person and as a writer, she becomes a symbol for her insidious disease (a pawn, really); satisfaction at the end is hard to come by (even for those who can stand the suffering), yet the performances from the four principals—which includes Winslet and Bonneville as the younger selves—are so keen that it’s worth the effort anyway. Broadbent won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

60/100