Many years before the Canadian movie "Away from her", or the American movie "Still Alice" were screened - the Brits made one of the first feature films on Alzheimer's disease. And what an excellent movie it is.
Iris (or Iris & John) is based on an emotional book written by the British author John Bayley "Elegy for Iris". The books is a real-life memoir, which tells the story of the well known British novelist Iris Murdoch and her Partner, the British author John Bayley.
At this stage (and for transparency purposes) I must confess that during the 1970s and 1980s I have read many of Murdoch's books - and I enjoyed them very much. I was not aware however that at her late she had dementia and was cared for by her partner, Bayley.
This 2001 drama was directed by Richard Eye, is basically the life story of Iris Murdoch, with a specific focus on her struggle with dementia. However, it is unique and special in 2 ways:
First, the story is told in a way that inter-plays between the relationships of "young" Iris (Kate Winslet) and John (Hugh Bonneville) and "old" Iris (Judi Dench) and John (Jim Broadbent). For a few minutes we see them in their height of their love and sexuality as a young couple, and for a few minutes we see them lost in old age under the burden of the disease. This beautiful interplay between the time frames of "young" v "old" provides a wonderful and rich context for understanding the meaning of looking at living with dementia in old age.
Second, the very difficult issues of loving and caring along with intimacy and stress which accompany the care for an aging partner with dementia are portrayed in such a humane, delicate, and thoughtful manner. There is no attempt to hide or to cover up the dark sides of stress, frustration, and eventually loss.These are all accomplished through the superb acting by both Judi Dench (in one of her first "gerontological" performances), and Kate Winslet.
In many ways I believe that "Iris" was a ground-breaking movie, which opened the doors for many later gerontological movies: it proved one can make an excellent feature film about older adults, and about topics which nobody wants to talk or see (e.g. dementia) - and still be successful.
In my view - one of the best gerontological movies on dementia.
Engalnd
2001
Director: Richard Eyre
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESEPlFKc1Fo
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