Excellent, smart action film.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

for directing and for the performances. for flavor of atmosphere and for the crumbs of humor. for a kind of innocence who gives delicacy and soft nuances to many scenes. for the historical errors. and for Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. a film who seduce. that seems be the purpose and every criticism's attempt seems not fair. because it is a dramatic fairy tale. not great but comfortable for present the start of war in delicate nuances. a film who remains , after its end, lovely memory. because it propose small stories, far to be heroic but predictable, interesting characters and delicate travel across a man looking his sense in a different world. a film who is far to be pink but who could be, for a part of public, a kind of soup for soul. with bitter herbs, of course.

Now this was on the queue of Foxtel's movie line ups. Despite the title I watched. What a wonderful find! Not the best period drama ever put on screen but a totally engaging one. I love Dench and Smith, so gracefully acted ... the man who plays the Polish castaway is very good. Such a shames his violin playing was rather less obviously shown, no amount of pretending will make a virtuoso, and it shows. There is a rather predictable twist, I shan't spoil it. Truly heartbreaking. The characterisation of the locals is brilliant, the maid wonderful and the cinematography and musical score top shelf. What comes through very clearly is the British distaste for foreingers, I guess as it was set in the 1930s ...

Well this is about as pompous and tedious as you an possibly imagine. Thank God I never saw this in the cinema. Written under the pretension of a character driven script. Only probably made because Charles Dance wrote it, it is poor at any level.Why a 70 year old lady becomes so infatuated so quickly by a nondescript boy who doesn't become remotely interesting until he plays the violin.It drags on and on with out rhyme or reason doing nothing, saying nothing and not even the legends of Maggie Smith or Judy Dench can perform well enough or make something of this.I was given the DVD and a very quickly give it to the bin.

An often breathtakingly acted project, Ladies in Lavender is a terrible disappointment. The story seems like a smouldering English tale of love and duty cracking heads. Ultimately it becomes a pleasant, well-observed but deflating tale about being English.Maggie Smith and Judi Dench may not be beyond criticism - no one is - but that means that there should be vigorous forelock tugging as they turn in yet more first class acting, irrespective of price, project or peers. I really recommend this film for seeing a great cross section of other super English actors: I remember thinking, 'yeah, but they forgot Jimmy Yuill' and then even he pops up in cameo. Nice.Daniel Brühl and Natascha McElhone are good they can't match the bucolic ease or the 'indigenous Cornish'. They are naturally outsiders though. The biggest problem - and it is a serious issue - is the determined romanticism of Dance, the director. I found the cadential slo-mos ofputting. The story (on paper) also needs the bite of backstory. 4/10