Rent Iris (2014)
3.3 of 5 from 69 ratings
1h 37min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
'Iris' pairs legendary 87-year-old documentarian Albert Maysles with Iris Apfel, the quick-witted, flamboyantly dressed 93-year-old style maven who has had an outsized presence on the New York fashion scene for decades. More than a fashion film, the documentary is a story about creativity and how, even in Iris' dotage, a soaring free spirit continues to inspire. 'Iris' portrays a singular woman whose enthusiasm for fashion, art and people are life's sustenance and reminds us that dressing, and indeed life, is nothing but an experiment. Despite the abundance of glamour in her current life, she continues to embrace the values and work ethic established during a middle-class Queens upbringing during the Great Depression. "I feel lucky to be working. If you're lucky enough to do something you love, everything else follows". - Actors:
- Carl Apfel, Iris Apfel
- Directors:
- Albert Maysles
- Producers:
- Jennifer Ash Rudick, Laura Coxson, Rebekah Maysles
- Studio:
- Dogwoof
- Genres:
- Documentary, Special Interest
- Collections:
- A Brief History of Old Age on Screen: Part 2, A Brief History of Film...
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Reviews (1) of Iris
...and Nowhere to Go - Iris review by CH
With Iris Apsel's recent death at 102, this was a chance to see the documentary about her which Albert Mayles made a year before his own death. At first, it is a welcome sight, this colourfully decorated New York woman who, never opting for grey, sported all manner of clothes - and their accessories, mutiple bangles and all, by which she always set as much store.
Trouble is, it lasts more than ninety minutes. Long before this - shuttling between Florida and Park Avenue - it has become yet another foray to a shop and a rummage for unexpected items, whether in a thift store or more gilded a setting (she gets an exhibition of all this at the Metropolitan Museum when it had a sudden gap to fill). One soon asks, what else is there in the life of her and her husband (he died not long after). What does all this dressing up bring with it? There is no reference to books, plays, music - to anything else in Manhattan. Without wishing to impugn her, one cannot help but say the documentary feels hollow.
Not the film for which Mayles will be best remembered, although one is glad of the chance to see it, even if balking at the extra on the disc which is a fifty-minute interview with her by a fashion editor at the time of the film's release here.
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