Iris (film)

Iris (film)

Iris is a 2001 biographical film that tells the story of British novelist Iris Murdoch and her relationship with John Bayley. The film contrasts the start of their relationship, when Murdoch (played by Kate Winslet) was an outgoing, dominant individual as compared to her timid and scholarly partner Bayley (played by Hugh Bonneville), and their later life, when Murdoch (now played by Judi Dench) was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and tended to by a frustrated Bayley (now played by Jim Broadbent) in their North Oxford home in Charlbury Road.

The film, which was directed by Richard Eyre, is based on Bayley's memoir Elegy for Iris. The beach scenes were filmed at Southwold in Suffolk, one of Murdoch's favourite haunts.

Broadbent received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role. Dench and Winslet were both nominated, for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively.