A FINE MADNESS OUT OF THE TURMOIL OF ALZHEIMER'S CAME THE TOUCHING BIOGRAPHY 'IRIS'.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

IN THE LATE 1990s, when celebrated author Iris Murdoch was slipping into dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease, her academic husband, John Bayley, published ``Elegy for Iris,'' the first of his two collections of memoirs about the couple's life together - dementia included. Murdoch was still alive, although not in a position to answer her husband's account.

``It became a bit of a cause celebre,'' recalls British-born actor Jim Broadbent. ``There was quite a bit of debate over the publication of the book, whether it was noble or the right thing for him to be doing, while she was still alive and incapable of defending herself.''

Broadbent didn't particularly tune into the debate at the time it was happening. Now, knowing Murdoch and Bayley more intimately, he has a very definite opinion over whether the biographical tell-all was seemly.

``I think it's entirely appropriate,'' says Broadbent, who plays Bayley in the film ``Iris.'' ``He was heroic, looking after her all that time of her illness, doing whatever it took. Part of that was writing it all down, and releasing his own tensions. I'm practically sure that Iris would have approved and sanctioned it. He knew her best, and that's good enough for me.''

The two married in 1956, and Murdoch was the love of Bayley's life. The film depicts Murdoch's free-spiritedness in the early part of the relationship. She had lovers, male and female, while Bayley often seemed to be standing powerless and longing in the background.

``She was dynamite,'' says Kate Winslet, who plays the young Iris Murdoch. ``She was bisexual, she was intellectual, and she was inspiring. But I never really felt she was the kind of woman who was fighting with her own demons. She very much accepted herself for who she was, and she expected others to do the same.''

In the film, Bayley comes off as the more conflicted. Of ``Iris' '' several hard-to-stomach scenes, perhaps none is as quease-inducing as Broadbent's Bayley venting his fury at his comatose, Alzheimer's-stricken wife while the two are in bed: ``Well I've got you now, Iris, and I DON'T BLOODY WANT YOU!'' The scene is utterly without pity, and Broadbent soft-pedals nothing.

Return engagement

``Iris,'' directed by Richard Eyre and adapted by Eyre and Charles Wood from Bayley's books, recently reopened at the Music Hall Theater in Beverly Hills after an awards-qualifying run in December. Kate Winslet and Judi Dench play the young and older Murdoch, and Hugh Bonneville is the younger Bayley.

``Iris'' has already won Broadbent a Golden Globe (Dench and Winslet were also nominated), and Winslet and Broadbent earned best supporting actor awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. The three have a strong chance of hearing their names announced when the Oscar nominations are read this morning.

Broadbent listened to Bayley being grilled on a British radio program called ``In the Psychiatrist's Chair'' - an interview that constituted the bulk of his research. The interviewer, professor Anthony Clare, probed and attacked, but Bayley didn't take the bait.

``He's a very acquiescent and agreeable man, not contentious or arguing,'' Broadbent said of Bayley. ``There was great strength in him as well.

``In the books, there's some reference to his anger. I think that's anger that comes out of the disease rather than with Iris,'' continued Broadbent, who lost his mother to Alzheimer's. ``That's frustration and tiredness that comes with being a 24-hour nurse. He clearly was not somebody you'd choose to be your full-on caregiver. He was not one of nature's nurses.''

Judi and Jim

Though it's titled ``Iris'' and features two celebrated actresses playing Murdoch as a younger and older woman, the film is as much Bayley's story as it is Murdoch's. The film depicts an unconventional love story between a free spirit and the rumpled academician who worshipped her, only to lose her to a devastating, dignity-robbing illness.

Dench, equally unflinching, is reduced to dithering disorientation through much of the movie, on more than one occasion driving her husband crazy. Broadbent and Dench had never met prior to just before filming began. Both had worked with director Eyre on the London stage, and the pairing turned out to be a solid match.

``We had a very similar approach to the work and a similar sense of humor,'' said Broadbent. ``And it was a very funny job. When we weren't actually doing the work, there was almost a level of hysteria sometimes.''

Come again? Hysteria on a film where one of the great literary minds of the 20th century is reduced to watching the Teletubbies?

``The scene we rehearsed on the first day, we call it the 'it's only the postman' scene,'' said Broadbent. ``As a comic sort of construction, it's a very funny scene, somebody barging up to you saying, 'It's only the postman, its only the postman.' If you see the scene for what it is and forget that it's the degenerative fatal illness, it's a comic thing.''

A dream role

The older couple weren't the only ones having fun. ``Iris'' gave ``Titanic's'' Winslet the opportunity to shed her clothes and get wet once again (Murdoch was a swimmer). It was Winslet's first time back in front of a camera since the birth of her daughter, Mia, in October 2000. Even though it was a supporting role, Winslet said the the decision to accept the assignment was a no-brainer.

``There's something about it that is so sort of universally appealing,'' Winslet said. ``Although it's about Iris Murdoch, it seems to be about so many other things, like living life to the full. I've always felt, from the first day, that it's not about a woman dying. It's really a true love story.''

One day during filming, Winslet happened to noticed a little old man wearing a flat cap that all but covered strands of unruly white hair. Winslet said she took one look at the real John Bayley and said, ``I know who you are.''

``He's the sweetest, cuddliest little man, and he took a bit of a shine to me,'' said Winslet. ``When he acknowledged me, he said, 'You're rather lovely, you are.' ''

And just in case a strong script, challenging themes and the prospect of being ogled by John Bayley weren't enticement enough, Winslet had another reason to join ``Iris.''

``I was asked to play the young Judi Dench,'' says Winslet. ``You do not, unless you are completely deranged, say no.''

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Kate Winslet and Judi Dench (with Jim Broadbent as husband John Bayley) play the young and older Iris Murdoch in ``Iris.''

(2 -- 3) Judi Dench, left, and Winslet play author Iris Murdoch in different phases of her life.

(4) ``In the books, there's some reference to his anger. I think that's anger that comes out of the disease rather than with Iris. That's frustration and tiredness that comes with being a 24-nurse. He clearly was not somebody you'd choose to be your full-on caregiver. he was not one of nature's nurses.

(5) The real John Bayley, center, is flanked by Hugh Bonneville and Kate Winslet on the set of ``Iris.''