Tuesday, 31st December 2002, 10:28pm
An opinion by:
NetteIris by Richard Eyre
Oh, lots of promise here, Academy Award nominated everyone, British cast,biography of famous British writer Iris Murdoch, nice juicy life with interesting character, plot, drama, all of it. However, just before dashing out to catch this one I did a quick check online and discovered that this film is based on Iris Murdoch's story as told by her husband. Uh oh, had to muster my enthusiasm to sit through it once I knew that. Nothing wrong a husband's biography except his entire focus is on her decay due to Alzheimer's, sigh. As a result we only get to see Iris Murdoch being witty and lucid for a few minutes here and there. The rest of it is pathos-inducing, lengthy scenes of Iris watching Teletubbies and generally being unable to communicate. This, we are told, is a great tragedy as words were everything to her. Okay, that's a good point but the point is the only one that is made and it is made over and over again. It all results in a tedious cinematic experience where we are made to feel like we're the ones with Alzheimer's. Also, life with a toddler who is struggling with language made me strangely unsympathetic to the horrors of someone stumbling over words. I spend my days finding that stumbling charming, so where is the drama in that? Granted, that's all ass-backwards, but confused my viewing experience nonetheless.
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