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Ladies in Lavender (2004)
Director: Charles Dance
Movie review
From Time Out London
Here’s an odd wisp of heritage drama, adapted from a story by William J Locke and directed by journeyman actor Dance. He presents a formidable grande-dame pair – Judi Dench and Maggie Smith – as symbiotic sisters living out their twilight years in 1936 Cornwall, where handsome shipwreckvictim Daniel Brühl (‘Good Bye Lenin!’) washes ashore one unassuming day. While the mysterious young man, who doesn’t speak a word of English, heals up in their spare bedroom, sensible sis Janet (Smith) attempts communicating with him in German, flightier Ursula (Dench) develops a secret but fiery crush on him, and out-of-towner Natascha McElhone whisks the lad away to nurture his soon-evident violin-playing talent. It’s all as postcard-pretty, pleasantly dull, and wholly inconsequential as it may sound; Dance tiptoes around Ursula’s suppressed desires so nervously that her character remains frustratingly oblique, though the redoubtable team of Dench and Smith have a prickly but affectionate rapport that feels decades lived-in.
Author: JWin
Time Out London Issue 1786: November 10-17, 2004
Cast & crew
Director: Charles Dance
Producer: Nik Powell, Nick Brown, Liz Karlsen
Cast: Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Natascha McElhone, Daniel Brühl, Miriam Margolyes full cast
Genre(s): Drama
Duration: 103 mins
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