IRIS: Creativity Knows No Bounds

Unfortunately, in March of this year, we lost the great documentary film-maker Albert Maysles. With his brother David (who died in 1988), they made some quite important and influential documentaries such as Grey Gardens, Salesman and Gimme Shelter. Their style was using direct cinema; following a subject and shooting a ton of footage without any agenda or plotline planned and creating a documentary in post production. It’s a technique which gives a naturalistic vibe and works well for creating character studies, profiling the subject by mixing different portions of their lives so we get an overall picture of who or what they are. Iris, Maysles’s last feature film, works as a great final piece for the director and an entertaining profile of an eccentric underground fashion icon.

Not Just A Pretty Face

Much like the wardrobe of Iris Apfel, the film is a mixture of many different elements which seem odd on their own but together make for an enticing combination. Iris is a character piece on Iris Apfel, 93-year old fashion icon who, even late in her life, is still constantly working and creating new eccentric fashion ideas alongside her 100 year-old loving husband Carl. Iris and Carl were a couple who created and ran a textile firm in 1950, taking part in many restoration projects, including some for the White House for over 9 different presidents. Due to their historical restorations, they travelled the world constantly and due to Iris’s love for cultural fashion, she gained a notoriously large collection, which now fills 3 different New York apartments and a large storage unit. In 2005, a fashion exhibition highlighted some of Iris’s eclectic collection, which brought her some mainstream attention and made her quite a prominent figure in the fashion industry.

Maysles makes some very smart decisions in the film, as when people hear the subject of the documentary, a fashion industry icon, people immediately picture someone of excess and a representation of a superficial and dire industry, due to its common portrayal in mainstream media. The film opens with Iris showing us some of her favourite outfits, which feature her trademark large rimmed glasses, about 6 necklaces, arms covered in bangles, a multi-coloured jacket and regular denim jeans. It’s an image that evokes laughter. You question: “Wait, is she serious?” But Maysles knows this. He knows that her image is quite striking and that due to her excessive amount of accessories, one may think that she is a woman who is quite pretentious and a person of excess, a senior citizen version of someone like 50 Cent, wearing a ton of accessories to purely promote their wealthy social status.

Maysles addresses this initially, but has the audience adjust themselves when he slowly starts to highlight Iris’s humanist and everyman side. Maysles focuses on her charming partnership with her husband, her dedication to her job, the amount of time she devotes to helping others and her regular home life. These are deliberate choices to deconstruct the biased image of the fashion industry and make Iris quite a relatable and loveable figure, of which Maysles does a good job. Iris comes across as quite a quick-witted dedicated person who has a lot to say about the modern day fashion scene and family life in general, in a way that any regular person can agree with.

A Fading Conversation

Due to Maysle’s cinéma vérité style, the film lacks any linear narrative, opting for the style of character study, which subverts the usual style for autobiography as it avoids the usual order of history, influence and effect, mixed in with talking heads throughout. The film starts with Iris giving advice to modern fashion students and gives quick highlights to the different elements of her life. Her childhood, her marriage, and her business are all addressed, but Maysles and Iris aren’t interested in telling that story. They trust in the viewer to make up their own mind on her and judge that the footage pieced together is enough to give enough information on the inside machinations of the woman and how her odd style is important in the overall fashion industry.

Due to this method, though, the film starts to feel slightly meandering as it goes on. Whilst it is at a nice brief 90 minutes, past the hour point the film starts to feel like its repeating itself, establishing character traits and touching on points which have already been addressed to the audience. Another missing element in the film is any differing or alternative opinions of Iris – the film positions her as a sweet and caring woman, but avoids anyone who objects to her visions and style, which leads to constant and sometimes empty praise.

As the audience is given nothing to compare Iris’ vision to, we are constantly told that Iris is great, influential, original and a big part of the fashion industry; but none of the interviewees ever get into the deeper reasons for why that is and no-one is interviewed to break up that constant praise. The film is quite a feel-good film, which celebrates originality and the conquest of creativity in a sea of rehashed material. I understand why Maysles has avoided any negative comments or objecting views to Iris’, but overall it would’ve been nice to compare different views of her and give the audience more material to make up their own minds about her ideas.

The Verdict

Overall, Iris is an enjoyable, heartwarming yet glossy affair. This is a film with a positive message about originality, creativity and not letting age and maturity limit these things. Through Maysles deceptively subtle style, on the surface the film is quite plotless and sometimes meandering, but does touch on quite a lot of themes. The problem is that it feels padded, and after the one hour mark, starts to become quite repetitive, when the footage and the overall message feel like they’ve been repeated several times. I get what the film is trying to say, but it doesn’t change its tune.

Iris is quite heartwarming, where Maysles makes the smart decision to position the fashion icon Iris and the fashion industry in a warm and inviting light, focusing on the kitchen sink aspects of her life rather than the superficial and economic levels of her career. It works as a great final film for Albert Maysles, with Iris’s love for life and creativity reflecting that of Maysles himself, who is seen frequently throughout the film still controlling the camera and not letting his age stop him from creating. The film is much like fairy floss – enjoyable at the time but overall lacking anything to chew on.

Are you a fan of Albert Maysles work and can you think of some of his other great films?

(top image source: Magnolia Pictures)