We watched Ladies in Lavender last night, a beautiful film starring Maggie Smith and Judi Densch, who are of course two of the most fabulous British actresses now gracing the stage or screen (Tilda Swinton is almost as fabulous as well, especially if you’ve seen Orlando). I could watch Mags and Judi cleaning their teeth and it would probably be fantastic and nuanced.
This film is about two elderly sisters living in a coastal village in Cornwall in the southwest of England in the period “between the Wars”. Into their careful and harmonious lives comes Andrea, a handsome young Polish man who appears washed up on the shore after a storm. The sisters nurse Andrea back to health, teaching him English as his broken ankle heals. Andrea’s presence wakes long-buried passions in Ursula, Judi Densch’s chracter, and disturbs the fragile peace of their lives. Andrea is also a talented violinist, and Olga, a beautiful young Russian tourist, offers him an opportunity to make a new life for himself. As these lives come together one knows that heartache will be inevitable.
The acting in this film is beautiful and understated. Densch and Smith are longtime friends, so their relationship as sisters is immediately believeable. David Warner and Miriam Margoyles (Dorcas) provide some excellent balance to the film as well, and Dorcas in particular provides some great comic relief to the otherwise rather somber tone to the story. The locations are also gorgeous. Definitely worth seeing if you’re at all a fan of these two great actresses.