電影是BBC拍的，主角是患阿爾茨海默癥之后的Iris，中間不斷插敘rish和John年輕時的生活。電影大概是想表達患上老年癡呆是Iris這樣的知識分子一生最大的不幸-----年輕時她是早慧的天才，在只屬于少數(shù)人的智慧競賽中輕巧地摘取文學桂冠，以超群的姿態(tài)睥睨一切；到了老年卻患上癡呆，不僅生活無法自理，更完全喪失思考能力，頭腦比剛出生的嬰兒還要簡單。這樣的對比固然令人嘆惋，但如果觀眾對Iris不夠了解，看這部電影會覺得十分沉悶。

《經(jīng)濟學人》登過一篇John Bayley的悼文（我非常喜歡的一篇悼文），文章很多細節(jié)和電影幾乎完全重合----如倆人在牛津騎單車的初遇，一起游泳和那條泥跡斑斑的襯裙，John親眼目睹Iris和其他男人、女人偷情，Iris生病后家里變得骯臟凌亂，地上隨便撿起一本書便是簡?奧斯汀， John對托爾斯泰的熱愛，當然，還有John標簽式的口吃。

不喜歡的地方是電影對John的刻畫很不準確，沒有把他的氣韻表現(xiàn)“對”。電影中那個John 溫和得接近懦弱，純粹得近乎無知，除了對Iris虔誠的愛，幾乎沒有任何個人魅力。但真實的John一定是有風骨的，狂狷的，否則不會有他那古怪的幽默和放浪形骸（他在牛津以弄丟學生essay聞名，喜歡在High Table上把食物悄悄塞進口袋；稱濟慈的詩歌為“bad poetry”； 對Iris的婚外情頗為容忍，對學術地位、名譽更是置身度外）。真實的John應該更加豐富、復雜，否則他更不可能吸引Iris與之共度一生。

電影我認為最漂亮的一段臺詞來自John在好友Janet葬禮上的發(fā)言：

Anna Karenina（Tolstoy, you know）， on her way to the station to throw herself under the train, she has something funny which she thinks to tell Oblonsky, a lover, about; we all do it; I do it with Iris, Janet, all our friends. But then Anna thought, she wouldn’t be seeing Oblonsky again because she was about to kill herself. If there is one thing that would have Pvented Anna from throwing herself under a train, that would be it---the thought of telling something funny to the man she loved. Love is over. Life would soon be over. Goodbye, Janet.

此外Iris唱的那首Lark In The Clear Air 也很好聽，旋律十分婉轉，相比之下歌詞倒顯得有些平庸。

Lark In The Clear Air

Dear thoughts are in my mind

And my soul it soars enchanted

As I hear the sweet lark sing

In the clear air of the day

For a tender beaming smile

To my hope has been granted

And tomorrow he shall hear

All my fond heart longs to say

I will tell him all my love

All my soul’s pure adoration

And I know he will hear my voice

And he will not answer me nay

It is this that gives my soul

All its joyous elation

As I hear the sweet lark sing

In the clear air of the day

作者柳林風聲