Stanley & Iris (1990) is a romantic drama film directed by Martin Ritt and starring Jane Fonda and Robert De Niro. The screenplay by Harriet Frank, Jr. and Irving Ravetch is loosely based on the novel Union Street by Pat Barker.
The original music score is composed by John Williams and the cinematography is by Donald McAlpine. The film is marketed with the tagline "Some people need love spelled out for them."
Plot summary
Iris King is a working-class mother and widow in Connecticut with a job at a large commercial bakery. Still getting over the death of her husband, she lives from paycheck to paycheck as she raises her two children, Kelly and Richard. Also living with her are her unemployed sister Sharon and Sharon's abusive husband, Joe. Iris and her family live in an area where crime such as robbery, burglary and assault are commonplace.
One of the few bright spots in her life is her blossoming friendship with Stanley Cox, a nice guy whom she first meets when he comes to her aid after her purse is stolen by a street thug. Stanley works in the bakery's staff cafeteria. As their friendship develops, Iris starts noticing a few odd things about Stanley. He cannot sign his name, does not drive, and still lives with his elderly father. It slowly dawns on Iris that he can not read. When she innocently tells his boss so as to clear him from being accused of a theft at the bakery, he gets fired as his boss is now concerned that he will be a liability. The loss of his job is an especially troubling development, as Stanley is evicted and has to put his father in a retirement home. His father dies in the home and Stanley feels very guilty over not having a job and being able to give his father a better place to spend his final years. Stanley is homeless and out of work, but is living in a garage. In his spare time, Stanley invents machines and contraptions, something he has done for many years.
Iris' tensions at home become even greater when teenage Kelly announces that she is pregnant. Stanley asks for Iris' help in learning to read and their relationship blossoms. After several triumphs and failures, Stanley successfully overcomes his problem, eventually securing a patent for a machine he has invented that cools hot pastry. The relationship between Stanley and Iris also has ups and downs. Ultimately, Iris decides that grieving over her husband should not take over her life and finds love again. Kelly has a baby girl, whom she names Estelle. After moving to Detroit and finding success there, Stanley returns to Connecticut for Iris and her family. As they prepare to go to Detroit as husband and wife, Iris asks Stanley if he thinks he can handle the problems of her family, to which he replies "Anything is possible."
Main cast
Differences from the novel
The film was based loosely on the 1982 British novel "Union Street" by Pat Barker. The novel was set in the North East of England in the 1970s, and tells the story of seven working-class women who all live on the same street. Whereas the film adaptation was essentially a romantic drama, the novel includes themes of prostitution, rape, abortion and terminal illness, and is significantly more grim. Many of the characters that appeared in the source novel do not appear in the film.
Trivia
- This film was shot on location in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Waterbury, Connecticut.
- During the filming in Waterbury, Connecticut, local Vietnam veterans picketed the production protesting Jane Fonda's controversial anti-war activities of a decade and a half earlier.
- This was actress Jane Fonda's last film before she retired from acting (she returned to the screen 15 years later in the romantic comedy Monster-in-Law in 2005).
- This was director Martin Ritt's last film before his death on December 8, 1990.
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