iris

this film is a moving portrait of a woman who has spent her whole life as a writer crafting words and teaching about their importance as she begins to loose that very thing she loves so much. judi dench plays iris who is a famous author and professor known for her verbose vocabulary and love of the english language. she is now growing old and loosing her memory, most specifically she is forgetting words, the language of her soul. by her side is her long suffering husband, played to hapless perfection by jim broadbent, who must try to help her stave off the effects of dementia. through out the film we see flashbacks of the relationship between the two of them as they meet and fall in love. she was always the leader, the strong one, but as we see now she has to accept the role of follower and is struggling with that position. she knows she is loosing her memory but cant do anything about it. the film is a heartbreaking study of the love between these two people as they come to terms with what was and now what is to come.