电影是BBC拍的，主角是患阿尔茨海默症之后的Iris，中间不断插叙rish和John年轻时的生活。电影大概是想表达患上老年痴呆是Iris这样的知识分子一生最大的不幸-----年轻时她是早慧的天才，在只属于少数人的智慧竞赛中轻巧地摘取文学桂冠，以超群的姿态睥睨一切；到了老年却患上痴呆，不仅生活无法自理，更完全丧失思考能力，头脑比刚出生的婴儿还要简单。这样的对比固然令人叹惋，但如果观众对Iris不够了解，看这部电影会觉得十分沉闷。
《经济学人》登过一篇John Bayley的悼文（我非常喜欢的一篇悼文），文章很多细节和电影几乎完全重合----如俩人在牛津骑单车的初遇，一起游泳和那条泥迹斑斑的衬裙，John亲眼目睹Iris和其他男人、女人偷情，Iris生病后家里变得肮脏凌乱，地上随便捡起一本书便是简?奥斯汀， John对托尔斯泰的热爱，当然，还有John标签式的口吃。
不喜欢的地方是电影对John的刻画很不准确，没有把他的气韵表现“对”。电影中那个John 温和得接近懦弱，纯粹得近乎无知，除了对Iris虔诚的爱，几乎没有任何个人魅力。但真实的John一定是有风骨的，狂狷的，否则不会有他那古怪的幽默和放浪形骸（他在牛津以弄丢学生essay闻名，喜欢在High Table上把食物悄悄塞进口袋；称济慈的诗歌为“bad poetry”； 对Iris的婚外情颇为容忍，对学术地位、名誉更是置身度外）。真实的John应该更加丰富、复杂，否则他更不可能吸引Iris与之共度一生。
电影我认为最漂亮的一段台词来自John在好友Janet葬礼上的发言：
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 也很好听，旋律十分婉转，相比之下歌词倒显得有些平庸。
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
作者柳林风声
