365 Days. 365 Films.

Iris is a biopic about British novelist, Iris Murdoch who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease towards the end of her life. This film very much focuses on the end of her life and her crumbling relationship with her husband in those final few months. Starring Judi Dench, Jim Broadbent and Kate Winslet as a young Iris, this is a deeply moving film about one of Britain’s greatest minds with tremendous performances from each and every cast member.

This is the film that won Jim Broadbent an Oscar and it is so well deserved, however I have no idea why Judi Dench and Kate Winslet didn’t also win! Judi Dench in particular was brilliant. I don’t know much about Iris Murdoch, but the wonderful thing about this film is that you don’t have to know anything about her to enjoy it. It’s a good and a bad thing that it doesn’t focus on her career much at all. This could easily be a film about just about anyone, so there is no real distinguishing aspect to it for Murdoch fans, but either way it’s an emotional roller coaster for anyone who has ever heard of Alzheimer’s disease – which I’m guessing is everyone…

It’s very easy to watch, which you may not expect for a film with such dramatic and distressing undertones, but it’s a delightful watch for the performances, the script and the overall direction which is spot on!