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the_lady_lily) wrote2007-01-29 10:45 am
the_lady_lily) wrote2007-01-29 10:45 am
Entry tags:
Filmography
Ladies in Lavender
I wanted to watch this for the Maggie Smith/Judie Dench content, and because it had such a favourable reception in the UK when it came out - it was one of the really big splashes of 2004, at least in the media, even if at festivals and so forth it didn't do so well. Having seen it, I now understand why, and reluctantly award it three stars.
Plot - two maiden sisters, living in a big house on a cliff-edge in Cornwall in 1936, look out over the beach one day to see a young man washed up on shore. He turns out to be Andrea, a Pole who speaks no English but has a familiarity with German. As he recuperates from his shipwreck (how he became shipwrecked is never fully explained, but it seems to have had something to do with an attempted emmigration to America) and his broken ankle, the sisters and their local housekeeper look after him, discovering that he is a talented violinist. Eventually, as he gets up and about, he starts partaking in village life, playing the violin at the Harvest Festival dinner, and meeting the startlingly beautiful Olga. She turns out to be the sister of Daniloff, a virtuoso violinist who is a mover and shaker in the musical world. She spirits Andrea off to London with no warning to the two sisters, who understandly get a bit distraught until a letter arrives explaining the situation. Andrea ends up performing at a swanky London venue, being broadcast on the radio, and as the sisters sit in the audience (unknown to Andrea!), the village crowds into the house on the cliff to listen to the concert on the wireless. The film ends with the sisters letting Andrea go and disappearing off the screen.
So - quite soppy in a non-sexual way - there's a ton of sexual tension, however. Olga has enthralled (unintentionally) the local village doctor, who does not take well to her friendship with Andrea - quite a strong show of 'Continental' physical intimacy as compared to British stiff-upper-lipness throughout the film. Andrea clearly wants to get it on with Olga, although she doesn't let him. His boyish good looks have also gained him the eyes of the village women. However, the problem is that Ursula (Judi Dench) also gets infatuated with the young man, to her sister Janet's (Maggie Smith's) understandable distress. It never goes anywhere as Ursula can see she's a silly old woman, but one does rather wonder if she's entirely right in the head - it's never quite explained why she isn't married. Janet's fiance went back to WWI and was killed, that's made clear, but it looks like Ursula never even had that outlet of romantic love. So it all pours out on Andrea, who manages to be entirely unaware of the problem until Janet points it out with a big stick. Idiot child.
I have to say that the problem with this film for me was that it trotted along at a nicely sedate pace - nothing huge happened, nothing amazing occured, there were no huge milestones. We weren't going to see old-person-young-person sex (it wasn't that sort of a film, clearly), but it was somehow - I don't know, flat. Nice juxtaposition of the middle-aged doctor wanting Olga and the old spinster wanting Andrea, yes, but not quite parallel enough to be really striking. It was just - painful, I think. The dull throb of the pain ran through the film, and there wasn't really enough joy there to counteract it. Except the violin playing, which was great.
Oh, and Miriam Margolyes as the local housekeeper, Dorcas, who did a wonderfully pleasing turn.
So yes. Just something about this felt a bit too smooth and dull for me. Andrea was also a bit - well, a bit unsympathetic and diva-ish at times. Despite the actually pretty good performances that Dench and Smith put in, there just didn't feel like there was the material there for them to work with as much as they might have done. Three stars. I suspect I'll like it more when I'm older.
I wanted to watch this for the Maggie Smith/Judie Dench content, and because it had such a favourable reception in the UK when it came out - it was one of the really big splashes of 2004, at least in the media, even if at festivals and so forth it didn't do so well. Having seen it, I now understand why, and reluctantly award it three stars.
Plot - two maiden sisters, living in a big house on a cliff-edge in Cornwall in 1936, look out over the beach one day to see a young man washed up on shore. He turns out to be Andrea, a Pole who speaks no English but has a familiarity with German. As he recuperates from his shipwreck (how he became shipwrecked is never fully explained, but it seems to have had something to do with an attempted emmigration to America) and his broken ankle, the sisters and their local housekeeper look after him, discovering that he is a talented violinist. Eventually, as he gets up and about, he starts partaking in village life, playing the violin at the Harvest Festival dinner, and meeting the startlingly beautiful Olga. She turns out to be the sister of Daniloff, a virtuoso violinist who is a mover and shaker in the musical world. She spirits Andrea off to London with no warning to the two sisters, who understandly get a bit distraught until a letter arrives explaining the situation. Andrea ends up performing at a swanky London venue, being broadcast on the radio, and as the sisters sit in the audience (unknown to Andrea!), the village crowds into the house on the cliff to listen to the concert on the wireless. The film ends with the sisters letting Andrea go and disappearing off the screen.
So - quite soppy in a non-sexual way - there's a ton of sexual tension, however. Olga has enthralled (unintentionally) the local village doctor, who does not take well to her friendship with Andrea - quite a strong show of 'Continental' physical intimacy as compared to British stiff-upper-lipness throughout the film. Andrea clearly wants to get it on with Olga, although she doesn't let him. His boyish good looks have also gained him the eyes of the village women. However, the problem is that Ursula (Judi Dench) also gets infatuated with the young man, to her sister Janet's (Maggie Smith's) understandable distress. It never goes anywhere as Ursula can see she's a silly old woman, but one does rather wonder if she's entirely right in the head - it's never quite explained why she isn't married. Janet's fiance went back to WWI and was killed, that's made clear, but it looks like Ursula never even had that outlet of romantic love. So it all pours out on Andrea, who manages to be entirely unaware of the problem until Janet points it out with a big stick. Idiot child.
I have to say that the problem with this film for me was that it trotted along at a nicely sedate pace - nothing huge happened, nothing amazing occured, there were no huge milestones. We weren't going to see old-person-young-person sex (it wasn't that sort of a film, clearly), but it was somehow - I don't know, flat. Nice juxtaposition of the middle-aged doctor wanting Olga and the old spinster wanting Andrea, yes, but not quite parallel enough to be really striking. It was just - painful, I think. The dull throb of the pain ran through the film, and there wasn't really enough joy there to counteract it. Except the violin playing, which was great.
Oh, and Miriam Margolyes as the local housekeeper, Dorcas, who did a wonderfully pleasing turn.
So yes. Just something about this felt a bit too smooth and dull for me. Andrea was also a bit - well, a bit unsympathetic and diva-ish at times. Despite the actually pretty good performances that Dench and Smith put in, there just didn't feel like there was the material there for them to work with as much as they might have done. Three stars. I suspect I'll like it more when I'm older.