Release Date: 8/20/2002 Original Release: 2001 Format: DVD Widescreen Length: 90 minutes Rating:R (MPAA) Rating Reason: sexuality/nudity and some language UPC: 786936178272 Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment
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.
DVD Features
Region 1 Keep Case Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85 Letterbox - 1.85 Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 - English Dolby Digital 5.1 - French Additional Release Material: Introduction: David Hyde Pierce Featurette: 1. A LOOK AT IRIS 2. ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION HONRS IRIS AND JIM BROADBENT Interactive Features: Scene Access Interactive Menus
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A very good film about the life of novelist Iris Murdoch (Kate Winslet as the younger Iris, Judi Dench as the older) following her from her young inspired days to the maddening loss of memory due to... Read the whole review at MatchFlick
