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Film plays a major role in contemporary society, often providing us with glimpses into other worlds and lives to which ordinarily we would not have access. Such is its influence that it can have a significant impact on popular opinion, and there is a heavy duty in the role of the director, writers and actors to achieve the right balance for fear of producing detrimental effects and biases. It is important that film achieves the right balance between discussing a particular issue without diluting it down to something mediocre or sensationalizing it beyond all realistic expectations.
The recent film Iris (Director: Richard Eyre, 2002, UK) has raised the challenging issue of dementia. Central to this film is how a couple tries to adapt their relationship to the continuing demands placed upon them by the changed personality and declining ability of a loved one with dementia. Dementia is a common and currently incurable condition which cruelly robs sufferers and their loved ones of a common history together, personality, love, intimacy and, ultimately, life. It is considered by some to be a normal part of becoming old, which it is not, but it is common and disturbing enough for it to be thought of in such ways as a means to avoid the distress of its underlying pathology and the distress of those who suffer with it. In some respects it offers disturbing glimpses into our most raw and primitive fears of losing our minds, becoming incapacitated and dependent. It threatens to shatter our sense of unity within the ego, blurring demarcations between what is self and non-self. Dementia should not be considered as a simple return to infancy through a reversal of human development, but it does share some similarities to infantile states that prove useful when considering its nature in advanced states.
The stigma of a mental illness like dementia, and ageing per se, can evoke powerful reactions in those observing films about it which are taken back to the wider community