Stanley & Iris
Tags: romantic

Plot synopsis:
A recently widowed Iris (Jane Fonda), unskilled middle class woman is forced to go to work at a baking plant. To make ends meet she rents out space to her sister and brother-in-law who have financial and marital problems as well. There is tension in the house and Iris's oldest child, a daughter, seeks escape through the company of boys resulting in an out of wedlock pregnancy. Making matters worse Iris had a good intellectual and healthy sexual relationship with her deceased husband. She misses him and visits the graveside often. She feels and is weighed down by her life.One day she has her purse stolen on the bus and gives chase to the thief who eventually gets away. Stanley (De Niro) comes to her aid and finds her attractive. He walks her home and she discovers that he works as a cook at the company canteen. Eventually she figures out he can neither read or write and saves him from being accused of stealing canteen supplies by the plant owner. Unfortunately he gets fired because of his lack of literacy and she offers to teach him how to read which he declines.Stanley's financial position deteriorates and he is forced to put his elderly father in an old peoples' home. He enters in good health but dies shortly after admission. Stanley realises the death is in part due to his illiteracy and asks Iris to teach him how to read. They form a friendship which eventually leads to a romance. Iris is initially incapable of having one as she has not let her first husband go. In dealing with the problems that this causes between them she discovers Stanley's amazing genius for mechanical inventions which eventually leads him to an interview at a major car company in Detroit - far from where they both live now.The story is well acted and moves along at a good clip. The ending is uplifting. Unlike many movies today dramatic tension is subtly and well portrayed. You need to pay attention to the details to thoroughly enjoy it.

Review: The beauty of the movie is the dance that Robert DeNiro and Jane Fonda do together, starting and stopping, before each has the skills and courage to completely trust each other and move on.
This may not be a memorable classic, but it is a touching romance with an important theme that stresses the importance of literacy in modern society and the devastating career and life consequences for any unfortunate individual lacking this vital skill.The story revolves around Iris, a widow who becomes acquainted with a fellow employee at her factory job, an illiterate cafeteria worker named Stanley.
Iris discovers that Stanley is unable to read, and after he loses his job, she gives him reading lessons at home in her kitchen.
Of course, as you might predict, the two, although initially wary of involvement, develop feelings for each other...Jane Fonda competently plays Iris, a woman with problems of her own, coping with a job lacking prospects, two teenage children (one pregnant), an unemployed sister and her abusive husband.
However, Robert DeNiro is of course brilliant in his endearing portrayal of the intelligent and resourceful, but illiterate, Stanley, bringing a dignity to the role that commands respect.
They aren't your typical charming young yuppie couple, as generally depicted in on screen romances, but an ordinary working class, middle aged pair with pretty down to earth struggles.I won't give the ending away, but it's a lovely, heartwarming romance and a personal look into the troubling issue of adult illiteracy, albeit from the perspective of a fictional character..
From the opening 360 degree pan, which ends by a close-up of the bakery (which is, in fact, the center of the drama), to the outstanding last line of the film (which is, in fact, the theme of the movie), the storytelling is absolutely first-rate.
De Niro, as Stanley, gives an understated and totally endearing portrayal of a resourceful and intelligent "illiterate." This film is the opposite of the "blockbuster" -- finely crafted, intimate, and uncompromising..
I have no personal love for Jane Fonda as a person but she does one Hell of a fine job, while DeNiro is his usual superb self.
Excellent acting by the 2 main stars, De Niro and Fonda, make this a movie well worth seeing.
`Stanley and Iris' is a heart warming film about two people who find each other and help one another overcome their problems in life.
Stanley's life is difficult, because he never learned to read or write.
After Stanley learns to read, he goes off to a good job in Chicago, only to return to Iris and ask her to marry him.It's a really good film without nudity, violence, or profanity, that which is rare in today's films.
As the last film directed by the redoubtable Martin Ritt, this 1990 drama is full of good intentions about adult illiteracy and has two proved star actors, Jane Fonda and Robert DeNiro, in the lead roles.
Nonetheless, it rarely hovers above the level of a Lifetime TV-movie, as the story amounts to a series of episodes around the burgeoning relationship between Iris, a recently widowed worker in a pastry factory and Stanley, a quiet, illiterate cook who likes to invent mechanical contraptions in the privacy of his apartment.
Realizing his illiteracy has prevented him from taking care of his ailing father, Stanley asks Iris to teach him.
The rest is pretty inevitable, though there are affecting moments along the way mainly because DeNiro is able to convey the basic decency and veiled humiliation of his character.What I do miss in DeNiro's performance is the edge of danger that makes him truly transcend his best roles like what he did right after this film as Jimmy Conway in Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas".
In what was to be her last film for fifteen years, Jane Fonda seems woefully miscast, looking too intellectually alert and physically aerobicized to portray Iris with conviction.
Begging for a Kathy Bates-type to inhabit her, Iris should be downcast about her life and feeling a deepening loneliness about her situation, but Fonda's off-screen resourcefulness makes it difficult to believe this woman would truly feel stuck.
It also feels disingenuous of the character to talk about her weight concerns and wanting a couple of eclairs when we are looking at an actress who has made millions on her workout tapes.Regardless, Ritt is also a master when it comes to showing the trials of everyday people in working class settings, and there is genuine chemistry between the two actors, which helps considerably as the story meanders toward its conclusion.
Excellent performances by Jane Fonda and Robert DeNiro that rank with their best work, a great turn by a young Martha Plimpton, an inspiring story line, and a haunting musical score makes for a most enjoyable and rewarding experience..
It's not a Hallmark Hall Of Fame-type family film with sleeping-before-marriage considered "normal" behavior but considering it stars Jane Fonda and Robert De Niro, I would have expected a lot rougher movie, at least language-wise.
The most memorable part of the film is the portrayal of how difficult it must be to learn how to read and write when you are already an adult.
That's the big theme of the movie and it involves some touching scenes but, to be honest, the film isn't that memorable.It's still a fairly mild, nice tale that I would be happy to recommend..
The problem with Stanley & Iris is that it feels like it is missing major scenes.
I watched the 1990 film Stanley and Iris last night for the first time.
It was like I was watching a poorly trimmed down television airing of a studio film that was compressed for time, however that was not the case here.
Working-class romantic drama from director Martin Ritt is as unbelievable as they come, yet there are moments of pleasure due mostly to the charisma of stars Jane Fonda and Robert De Niro (both terrific).
There are no overtures to serious issues (even the illiteracy angle is just a plot-tool for the ensuing love story) and no real fireworks, though the characters are intentionally a bit colorless and the leads are toned down to an interesting degree.
Although I didn't like Stanley & Iris tremendously as a film, I did admire the acting.
Jane Fonda and Robert De Niro are great in this movie.
He gives a great performance in this film and there is a great scene where he has to take his father to a home for elderly people because he can't care for him anymore that will break your heart.
"Stanley & Iris" is a quietly beautiful, poignant and simple film.
As one would expect, Jane Fonda and Robert De Niro are wonderful as the title characters (can you think of any two greater actors of the last thirty years?), and the script is quite affecting.
At another level, throughout watching the movie, I could not contain my disappointment at the inept treatment that is meted out by the script and the sketchy storyline.Was the director trying to document an epic human struggle, crafting out a modern day fairy tale, commenting on disturbing social issues or telling a plain love story?
John Ford, Frank Capra and a host of others have made epic movies about human struggle; Bergman, Woody Allen and a host of art-house directors have delved on various social issues and several film makers from William Wyler to Stephen Spielberg have had their versions of modern day fairy tales.
But none of them wanted to be everything in one movie.The first fifteen minutes of the movie make you think you are about to watch an intense, off-beat social document about burning issues like illiteracy, widowhood, old age, loneliness, teenage motherhood, poverty, mother-daughter relationship etc.In fact they are all hurled at you one after the other in the first reel itself.
It's here that I feel intellectually cheated.At one point in the movie, Robert De Niro asks Jane Fonda: why does it have to be all or nothing for you?
- full marks to them!) makes you forget your cinematic senses for a while and keep on watching.If I get a chance, I'll probably watch this movie again, and it's not because of Mr De Niro alone.Drawing a somewhat (though very different in theme and treatment) parallel - a much more powerful film about middle-aged post-marital flirtations starring De Niro in a similar 'soft' role was 'Falling in love' with Merryl Streep.
Iris King (Jane Fonda) is recently widowed and working at the bakery factory.
A nice, sane movie that never quite gets off the ground is Stanley & Iris.
As a recently widowed New England bakery worker who is supporting her children as well as her unemployed sister and her loutish husband, Jane Fonda captures just the right tone of can't-be-bothered weariness.She's appalled at the behavior of her brother-in-law, who slaps her sister (Swoosie Kurtz) in front of the children, and she's shaken when her unmarried teen-age daughter (Martha Plimpton) turns out to be pregnant.
Occasionally they pull off a good scene - like the one in which De Niro loses his way as he tries to read street signs - that suggests how much better this movie could have been..
Fair drama/love story movie that focuses on the lives of blue collar people finding new life thru new love.The acting here is good but the film fails in cinematography,screenplay,directing and editing.The story/script is only average at best.This film will  be enjoyed by Fonda and De Niro fans and by people who love middle age love stories where in the coartship is on a more wiser and cautious level.It would also be interesting for people who are interested on the subject matter regarding illiteracy........
When Jane Fonda finds out Robert De Niro has survived his entire life hiding his illiteracy, she sets out to help him.
. .Even though this isn't a film I have any desire to watch over and over again, it really is a good movie.
Harriet Frank Jr. and Irving Ravetch write some interesting and realistic situations in the beginning of the film that show how Robert De Niro could get away with not being able to read.
Stanley & Iris is an adult love story.
I am korean.I love this movie of Stanley & Iris.Jane Fonda is beautiful this movie.Good performances by Jane Fonda and Robert DeNiro which made a person's cold heart, warm.Sometimes love makes me happy but sometimes it makes me sad.I think the best love is the love which we don't regret even after (Never lose the hope in) difficult situation.This movie show us everything.
There are many minor flaws in Stanley & Iris, yet they don't detract from the overall positive impact of watching people help each other in areas of life that seem the most incomprehensible, the hardest to fix.
It may be a bit of a stretch to accept that an Iris would wind up working year after year in a factory, or that a Stanley never hid his illiteracy enough to work in construction or some other better-paying job.
Widowed mother/food factory worker Jane Fonda and illiterate factory cook Robert DeNiro come together one day and a romance immediately starts.
However, nothing is going very good for Fonda at home with her relatives and DeNiro soon loses his elderly father and his job (the latter because he can't read or write).
Fonda turns out to be an amazing teacher of academics and DeNiro also teaches her how to live, laugh and love again in the process.
"Stanley & Iris" is really somewhat disappointing considering the star power here (DeNiro and Fonda are probably the two finest performers of their generation).
Although the film's intent is to be an uplifting story of curing illiteracy, watching it is a true "bummer."  I give it 1 out of 10, truly one of the worst 20 movies for its budget level that I have ever seen..
So there's no way this Stanley character created by this stupid film could not read or write A to Z alphabets, his own first and last names, read the street signs.
It is actually my kind of film, it is well made, and in no way do I want to say otherwise, but as an adaptation, it fails from every angle.The harrowing novel about the reality of living in a northern England working-class area grabbed hold of my heartstrings and refused to let go for weeks after I had finished.
A beautiful film, an inspiring soundtrack, excellent performances, a tale of hope and romance...yes.
The essence and the real gut of the novel is lost - darkness and rain, broken windows covered with cardboard, and the graphically described stench of poverty is replaced with sunshine, pretty houses, and a twinkling William's score.If you enjoyed the film for its positivity and hope in the face of 'reality', I advise that you hesitate to read the book without first preparing yourself for something more like 'Schindler's List'...but without the happy ending..
When the boss finds out Stanley can't read or write he sacks him because there's not much point having a chef who is going to put in three times the eggs and sugar the recipe requires.
I think that's because they expect Jane Fonda and Robert De Niro in a totally different types of films.
I can't say that Jane Fonda is one of my favorite actresses, yet, almost every time I do see one of her films, I'm impressed.
Now I like few things more than watching a good -- mature -- performance by a truly fine actor.This is clearly not the type of role that we usually associate with Jane Fonda -- a poor woman who works in a bakery factory and has a family life that is less than ideal.
That is until Iris King (Jane Fonda) comes along.
This hard-working factory worker, a widow with a troubled family, takes an interest in his plight, and takes it upon herself to teach him how to read and write, falling in love in the process while getting over the memory of her late husband.There is really little plot and not a sensible reason as to why Stanley has never learned to read and write.
There is also little impact in the story with Fonda's family, which includes her troubled sister (Swoosie Kurtz, most of whose role must have been left on the cutting room floor) and her young daughter (Martha Plimpton).
In a nice small role, "The Drew Carey Show's" Kathy Kinney plays one of Fonda's co-workers.I really wanted to like this more than just your average "Hallmark" type movie.
She remarks that he, like her, "is doing time" - her family is composed of a prisoner and a wage slave.Stanley, however, still believes in human relations and is therefore for most of the film outside of the system of Fordist capitalism.
It is, however, acknowledged as a moral force - Iris, clearly a character devoted to living a "good" life, mentions at the beginning of the film that her rosary was among the objects lost in a purse snatching.Once able to read, he enters the system and lands a managerial position with a health care plan, a car, and a house, taking his place at the head of the family, the breadwinner.
The year: 1990: 3 films are released with Robert Dinero: Awakenings, Goodfellas: Stanley and Iris.
Each carries their own weight: the talents found in Goodfellas can be seen in this film.When Deniros illiterate character runs in the rain to Fonda's character and in desperation yells "teach me to read," you feel the hurt, shame, limitations and prison an adult lives in being illiterate.This is why I love Bobby: also: Fonda is fantastic too..
Some side story lines about the sister and daughter could have been better developed or eliminated altogether, as they are, they seemed tacked on.Stanley and Iris are played by big name "stars" but that being said, they might have been more believable if played by "lesser lights".
Sharyn Wolf discusses the film "Stanley and Iris" in her book "Guerrilla dating tactics".
Jane Fonda and Robert DeNiro helped to change the perspective on the war in Vietnam.
Fonda And De Niro Elevates This Harmless Romance Film.
Stanley & Iris is a romantic drama that features two big stars in Jane Fonda and Robert De Niro.
This movie is about an odd love story between a widow and an illiterate.It was directed by Martin Ritt.
In this socially conscious drama with romantic overtones, Iris is a working mother with a job at a large commercial bakery who is still getting over the death of her husband, though her circumstances don't give her much time to grieve.
One of the few bright spots in Iris' life is her blossoming friendship with Stanley, a nice guy who works in the bakery's cafeteria.
Homeless and out of work, Stanley turns to Iris with a special request which is he'd like her to teach him how to read.The elements are in place but they don't add up to great drama in this well-meant effort to personalize the plight of illiterate people.But nevertheless,it's as honest and direct and entertaining as the considerable talents of everyone involved can make it.There is also a good supporting cast here, and Fonda is effective in her role.
But it's DeNiro who shines with a very affecting performance, as well as a natural chemistry with Fonda.That is why this movie with many flaws is a harmless little romance that's elevated by the charisma of its two stars..
This movie just doesn't work in the end, and that's a real shame because it's got a good premise and stars the greatest of all actresses.WARNING.
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with "happy endings," but they have to be realistic and this one isn't.It's a shame, because Jane Fonda is simply the greatest of all actresses.
That Stanley's caught in dead-end jobs because of his illiteracy.