Iris (film)

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Movie
German title iris
Original title iris
Country of production UK , USA
original language English
Publishing year 2001
length 87 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Richard Eyre
script Richard Eyre,
Charles Wood
production Robert Fox ,
Scott Rudin
music James Horner
camera Roger Pratt ,
Amy Gilliam
cut Martin Walsh
occupation

Iris is a feature of the British director Richard Eyre from the year 2001 . The drama is a biography of the Anglo - Irish writer Iris Murdoch , who developed Alzheimer's disease at the age of 74 . The film is based on the book Elegy for Iris: A Memoir , published by her husband John Bayley after Murdoch's death.

action

Well-known writer Iris Murdoch was preparing a new book when she began to experience symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. She fails to get the word puzzle out of her mouth and questions its meaning. In the following years she kept repeating snippets of words without even realizing it. After medical tests, the greatest English novelist at the time and her husband John Bayley are confronted with the diagnosis of Alzheimer's. While Iris is more and more exposed to psychological and physical decline, John, who is loyal to her, does not want to give up his great love and takes care of her. The intelligent and eloquent writer, who is portrayed in flashbacks as a life-hungry, sexually open and experienced young woman, is losing more and more of her mind due to the progressive dementia . John Bayley is not up to the demands that the intensive care of his wife places on him and he has to have Iris admitted to a home, where she dies four years after the outbreak of her illness.

History of origin

Iris is based on the book Elegy for Iris: A Memoir , published by her husband John Bayley after Murdoch's death. The film was u. a. Produced by the Miramax film studio and the BBC . Most of the filming took place in England. a. in the university town of Oxford ( Oxfordshire ), Richmond ( Surrey ) and in Southwold ( Suffolk ) where u. a. the scenes at the beach emerged, and in the Canadian Toronto .

Reviews

  • “ A very special, sensitive and drastic film about love. "( Elle )
  • “ The story of a great, selfless love that goes to the heart. "( Bild am Sonntag - VIVA BAMS )
  • “ Gripping drama about the British writer Iris Murdoch, whose husband is desperately fighting for the love of his life after suffering from Alzheimer's disease. "( DVD & Video Report )
  • “ Based on the memoirs of John Bayley, the British theater ace Richard Eyre tells the story of an all-important love. In the gripping Berlinale competition entry, he allows past and present to flow seamlessly into one another, thus delivering neither a biopic nor a disease drama, but a portrait of a highly unusual relationship. "( Focus: film )
  • “ Literary drama about the English writer Iris Murdoch, who developed Alzheimer's disease after a successful career. Intelligently, humorously and ironically, the film amalgamates the history of the illness with memories of those early days in Oxford when she met her husband John Bayley. The main roles are brilliantly cast and, thanks to the subtle images in the description of the illness, are well worth seeing, the script gives away a lot because the connection between the memories of the beginning of the relationship and the history of the illness does not always seem plausible. "( Film service )
  • “ The subtle implementation of a strange intellectual love story, however, prevents it from ever becoming a colportage. Deserved Oscar for Broadbent. "( Culture Mirror )
  • “ 'Iris' is about the horrors of Alzheimer's disease, about the question of what happens to love when a partner changes beyond recognition. The model is based on the fate of the successful author Iris Murdoch (played by Kate Winslet and Judi Dench) and her husband Bayley (played by Hugh Bonneville and Jim Broadbent). But Eyre does not rely on the absurdity of his role models, but thunders the story of his melancholy, gloomy characters with a lot of musical gusto: So his film about memory loss, all wit and all thoughts are lost. "( The mirror )
  • " Pure sadness? Certainly. But not a violin-whispered handicapped kitsch. Richard Eyre flips through warm-hearted scenes of a marriage in flashbacks in which two opposing characters - Iris dominant and impulsive, John a stuttering owl who doesn't exactly ignite the world - come to rest. The tragic finale triggers all the more melancholy. This is how it must feel when you leave a partner even though you love them. "( Cinema )
  • “ 'Iris' is not a conventional biography, but rather describes special moments in the life of Iris Murdoch, alternating between yesterday and today. The result: captivating, touching and sometimes painful without make-up. A pleasure. "( TV Movie )
  • “ Guaranteed not a Li-La-Mood film and that's why it's so worth seeing. "( TV feature film )
  • “ Heart-touching drama about the power of love in the shadow of an insidious disease. "( TV Today )

Remarks

  • The British actor Timothy West can be seen as Maurice in a supporting role . In the flashbacks included in the film, the young Maurice is played by West's son Samuel .
  • For the second time in the history of the Academy Awards two actors (Judi Dench and Kate Winslet) were nominated for the same role for Iris . In 1998, Kate Winslet was nominated for an Oscar for James Cameron's successful drama Titanic as the young Rose together with her fellow actress Gloria Stuart , who mimed the aged Rose.
  • In 2006 Judi Dench played again under Richard Eyres. In the drama Diary of a Scandal , which is based on the novel of the same name by Zoë Heller , Cate Blanchett takes on the lead role, in which she acts as a teacher of a pottery class and falls in love with one of her students.

Awards

The drama, which cost around 5.5 million US dollars , was literally showered with prizes and nominations, and especially the performance of the actors was singled out by the critics. Kate Winslet received her third Oscar nomination as well as a Golden Globe and BAFTA nomination for her play by the young Iris Murdoch . The then unknown Hugh Bonneville received the New Talent Award in Berlin . Jim Broadbent won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and the Golden Globe. Leading actress Judi Dench won her sixth BAFTA Award, as well as a Golden Globe nomination, for her portrait of the famous writer who is more and more addicted to mental dementia. After Shakespeare in Love , the well-known character actress was eagerly awaiting to be awarded the Oscar as the leading actress, but neither she nor the favorite Nicole Kidman ( Moulin Rouge ) won the trophy. In 2002, the Oscar for best leading actress went to an African American actor for the first time - Halle Berry triumphed with the drama Monster's Ball .

Oscar 2002

Nominated in the categories

British Academy Film Award 2002

  • Best Actress (Judi Dench)

Nominated in the categories

  • Best British Film
  • Best Actor (Jim Broadbent)
  • Best Supporting Actor ( Hugh Bonneville )
  • Best Supporting Actress (Kate Winslet)
  • Best adapted script

Golden Globe 2002

  • Best Supporting Actor (Jim Broadbent)

Nominated in the categories

  • Best Actress - Drama (Judi Dench)
  • Best Supporting Actress - Kate Winslet

Further

Berlinale 2002

  • New Talent Award (Hugh Bonneville)
  • nominated for the Golden Bear for best film

Broadcast Film Critics Association Award 2002

  • nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Jim Broadbent)

European Film Award 2002

  • Audience Award - Best Actress (Kate Winslet)

Nominated in the categories

  • Audience Award - Best Actress (Judi Dench)
  • Audience Award - Best Actor (Hugh Bonneville)
  • Audience Award - Best Actor (Jim Broadbent)

Evening Standard British Film Award 2002

  • Best Actress (Kate Winslet)

Golden Satellite Award 2002

Nominated in the categories

  • Best Actress - Drama (Judi Dench)
  • Best Supporting Actor - Drama (Jim Broadbent)
  • Best Supporting Actress - Drama (Kate Winslet)

Humanitas Prize 2002

  • Best movie

Sindacato Nazionale Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani 2002

  • nominated for the best movie song

London Critics Circle Film Award 2002

  • Best British Lead Actress of the Year (Judi Dench)

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award 2001

  • Best Supporting Actor (Jim Broadbent)
  • Best Supporting Actress (Kate Winslet)

National Board of Review 2001

  • Best Supporting Actor (Jim Broadbent)

Screen Actors Guild Award 2002

Nominated in the categories

  • Best Actress (Judi Dench)
  • Best Supporting Actor (Jim Broadbent)

literature

  • Richard Eyre, Charles Wood: Iris: a screenplay . Bloomsbury, London 2002, ISBN 0-7475-6067-6 (English edition)
  • John Bayley: Elegy for Iris . German Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-423-08560-6
  • John Bayley: Elegy for Iris . St. Martin's Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-312-19864-7 (English edition)
  • John Bayley, Iris Murdoch: Iris: a memoir of Iris Murdoch . Abacus, London 1999, ISBN 0-349-11215-0 (English edition)
  • John Bayley: Iris and her friends: a memoir of memory and desire . WW Norton, New York 2000, ISBN 0-393-04856-X (English edition)

Web links