A moving, terribly sad, yet uplifting film that is carried to success by three wonderfully sensitive performances
Iris (2001)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:108
Fresh:85
Rotten:23
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: A solidly constructed drama, Iris is greatly elevated by the strength of its four lead performances.
Theatrical Release:Dec 14, 2001 Limited
Box Office: $5,372,026
Synopsis: Based on the book ELEGY FOR IRIS, by John Bayley, this biopic tells the inspiring and heartbreaking story of the writer's 40-year romance with English novelist Dame Iris Murdoch. The film cuts back... Based on the book ELEGY FOR IRIS, by John Bayley, this biopic tells the inspiring and heartbreaking story of the writer's 40-year romance with English novelist Dame Iris Murdoch. The film cuts back and forth between the young Iris and John (played by Kate Winslet and Hugh Bonneville), at the height of their romantic adventures as students at Oxford in the 1950s, and the elderly couple (played by Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent), struggling with Iris' decline, as her brilliant mind is ravaged by the effects of Alzheimer's. Judi Dench gives an outstanding performance--her transformation from a prolific genius of the written and spoken word (Murdoch wrote 26 novels), to the infantile state of losing her language facilities altogether, is truly wrenching. Jim Broadbent is equally touching as her partner for life, who has adored the passionate Iris since they met, but was never fully able to possess her until the tragic end, when he declares in grief, "I've got you now, and I don't bloody want you!" Directed by Richard Eyre, artistic director of Britain's Royal National Theater, the film is uniquely sensitive and finely acted. [More]
Starring: Judi Dench, Jim Broadbent, Kate Winslet, Hugh Bonneville
Starring: Judi Dench, Jim Broadbent, Kate Winslet, Hugh Bonneville, Penelope Wilton
Director: Richard Eyre
Director: Richard Eyre
Screenwriter: Charles Wood, Richard Eyre
Producer: Scott Rudin
Composer: James Horner
Studio: Miramax Films
Get This Movie
Rent DVD
Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.
Buy DVD
Release:
Aug 20, 2002
Reviews for Iris
It's an exemplary lesson in Acting 101, taught by Judi Dench (Iris) and Jim Broadbent (John Bayley, her loyal husband of 40 years).
Dench and Winslet inhabit the role of Iris with such intensity it's hard to take your eyes off them.
Iris glows with rightness and convinces us we're sharing its characters' understanding that when the books and the memory go, love can remain.
People around [Iris] show so much love, helping her go gently into that cruel night of mental blankness, that you come away feeling no kindness can ever be wasted.
Because the film is well-acted and written with intelligence, it might be worth seeing, despite my objections.
It's good, but not great -- despite the heights to which Dench and Broadbent drive it. But those heights are lofty, the pain still stings.
Si han amado a alguien de tal modo que duele el hacerlo, esta es la cinta que deben ver.
Romantic - not of finding, but of knowing...the longer journey of being in love together, and living through what they experience.
The sketchy story is frustratingly short on details about what made Murdoch so important.
Represents everything that's stale about movie-making -- and especially movie awards -- today.
It's difficult to avoid nausean watching Jim Broadbent look with puppy eyes at Judi Dench throughout an otherwise literate--but too literary--film.
It creates a common mourning ground for all of us to reflect on this disease.
As sad as it is to watch the inexorable decline of a brilliant mind, Iris is warm and positive...
Latest News for Iris
April 13, 2006:
Rogue Shows Some Fuzz Love
Read on for a very formal press release from Rogue Pictures, the ultimate gist of which is this: Rogue, which is the "genre arm" of Universal Pictures, will distribute... More...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
RT On Current TV
DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
CloseSponsored Links
Fresh Links
Featured

Techland lists the best Sci-Fi films of this decade.

Moviefone takes a look back at the biggest stinkers of the past 10 years.

The Me and Orson Welles star answers reader questions on TIME.com.

Hollywood.com's C. Robert Cargill offers his thoughts on what the best decade for film was.

In the AV Club's "Scenic Routes," Mike D'Angelo reminisces about the Tim Burton film.
Promos

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!



Top Critic


