Cinema Review: Iris (From Barry And District News)

Cinema Review: Iris

IT'S films like Iris that film critics love. In fact these type of films seem to be made more for critics than the public nowadays, with the likes of A Beautiful Mind triumphing over The Lord of the Rings at this year's Oscars.

There is quite a lot to admire in Iris though.

It is a biopic of Iris Murdoch, and it focuses on the author's relationship with husband, John Bayley. The narrative flashes back and forth between the pair's early romance and how she suffers Alzheimer's disease later in life.

As a biopic, Richard Eyre's film fails. The use of flashing back and forth through time is done brilliantly, but it makes it seem more like a fictional story. It never shows you how Murdoch rose to fame with her books.

However, if you do watch it with a fictional eye it works well with a quartet of brilliant performances. Judi Dench and Kate Winslet take the role of a young and old Murdoch while Jim Broadbent and Hugh Bonnenville out act them both in the roles of Bayley, young and old.

Eyre's direction is not only stylish but he also makes it realistic. Even his use of the Teletubbies also makes it harrowing at times.

Made by BBC films, parts of the film seems to have too much product placement. The use of the Teletubbies and the BBC logo popping up just about everywhere.

Dench and Broadbent succeed in portraying the two. But no matter how brilliant they act, it's the film's bad attempt as a biopic that spoils everything.