Iris (2014)

Directed by: Albert Maysles
Country: USA

Movie Review: Flamboyant, genuine, creative, funny, and with a delightful personality, the 93-year-old fashion icon and interior designer, Iris Apfel, was chosen to be the subject of another great documentary by the legendary Albert Maysles, who died on March 5th at the age of 88. He and his brother David became known for covering memorable realities, which were depicted in no less memorable nonfictional motion pictures such as “Salesman”, “Grey Gardens”, and “Gimme Shelter”. With an experience that admirably puts together the required straightforwardness and preciseness in the art of filmmaking, Maysles relied on the adroit editing by Paul Lovelace, building the perfect structure to put us in complete harmony with the self-assured Iris. In this film we learn much more about Mrs. Apfel than just the importance of her famous huge round glasses, colorful way of dressing, or the fashionable combinations of oddly shaped necklaces and bracelets, which all together compose her stylish look. Here we are the spectators of her enormous passion, dedication, generosity, and even the burden of aging. Her husband Carl revealed himself as witty as she is, contributing heavily to enrich the film. Iris describes herself in different manners, using sentences that remain in our heads for a while, so honest and true they sounded. Examples? ‘With me there's no intellectual, it’s all guts’, ‘it’s better to be happy than well-dressed’, ‘I was never beautiful, so I had to do something else to become attractive’, ‘I never wanted children – in life you got to give up something’. As fashion was never one of my topics of interest, I was suspicious about how would I react to this film. Gladly, I left the theater feeling great since “Iris” showed plenty of life, heart, and color. Wonderful goodbye for Albert Maysles.