Plot

True story of the lifelong romance between novelist Iris Murdoch and her husband John Bayley, from their student days through her battle with Alzheimer's disease.

This movie is based on the life of revered British writer and philosopher Iris Murdoch (Dame Judi Dench), is a story of unlikely yet enduring love. As a young academic, teaching philosophy at Oxford, Murdoch (Kate Winslet) meets and eventually falls in love with fellow professor John Bayley (Hugh Bonneville), a man whose awkwardness seems in stark opposition to the spirited self-confidence of his future wife. The story unfolds as snippets of time, seen through older Bayley's (Jim Broadbent's) eyes. He recalls their first encounter over forty years ago, activities they enjoyed doing together, and Iris' charismatic and individualistic personality. These images portray Murdoch as a vibrant young woman with great intellect and are contrasted with the novelist's later life, after the effects of Alzheimer's disease have ravaged her. Murdoch's great mind deteriorates until she is reduced to a mere vestige of her former self, unable to perform simple tasks and completely reliant on her at times frustrated yet devoted husband.—kem

The late life of novelist and philosopher Iris Murdoch, considered one of the preeminent voices of her generation, and her marriage to critic and author John Bayley, are dramatized. Placing their late life relationship in context, especially his doting on her, there are frequent flashbacks to their courtship when she was a student and he a professor at Oxford, their coupling never too obvious in her more worldly outlook of life, especially concerning sex and sexuality, and his inexperienced, staid perspective. That late life largely focuses on the onset of her Alzheimer's, especially difficult in her losing her ability of language, the item for which she is so renowned.—Huggo

A moving and tender depiction of the novelist Iris Murdoch's (Dame Judi Dench's) descent into Alzheimer's Disease, covering the period from just before her marriage to intellectual John Bayley (Hugh Bonneville) until her death. This movie is based on the two books by John Bayley (Iris, Iris & The Friends).—Louise Dodds-Ely