Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Brilliant and touching

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Joan Plowright does an exemplary performance as a widow dealing with her later years. After moving into a questionable guest hotel in London to be near to her oblivious family who seem to avoid familial relationships, a chance meeting with a young writer broadens the widow's world again. Their time together gives both a chance to reflect upon life, one at the beginning for him, and one near the end for her.The performances of Dame Joan Plowright and up and coming actor Rupert Friend are enhanced by fine character portrayals by Anna Massey as the hotels dowager and Timothy Bateson as the hotels doorman.Director Dan Ireland has made a remarkable film from the book by Elizabeth Taylor which deals with relationships. Using the natural settings and with fine acting this film explore new and old relationship. The story is about heart touching kindness between people and an accepting of ones own worth and staying true to values.

A lonely pair of people, one in her 70's, one in his 20's, find each other in London and become a makeshift family far better than their "real" families.It's a bit cloying and sometimes unrealistic--for instance, how someone who looks like Rupert Friend could possibly be without a girlfriend for so long as a day beggars belief, and we're supposed to believe that he has a hard time finding one. And London is awfully safe and clean, here. The hotel is, I think, supposed to be a bit seedy (at least dialog suggests so) but what is on film is glistening. That the writer sometimes has VO narration is odd--it comes so infrequently, it feels like a mistake when it arrives. And it all moves verrry. slowwww. ly.But if you like these sorts of meandering feel-good stories, without any edge whatsoever, it is well enough done. The acting is good. There aren't many good roles for older women, and this has several. Rupert Friend is gorgeous and charming, and the scene where he sings "We May Never Meet Again" to her is a moving emotional climax and worth waiting through the slower points before (though if you're a of a certain mindset about music, you may not like the jazz spin he puts on it.) Her date with the older fellow is quite funny, too, and puts some interest into a sluggish part of the film.

Many reviewers are using words like "lovely" and "beautiful" to describe this film. I agree, and I want to add: "peaceful and calm". If you're in the mood for action, excitement and thrills, choose something else. Your blood pressure won't rise while watching this movie; it will fall.Normally I don't like a slow, deliberate pace, but Joan Plowright had me in the first few minutes and never let go. The perfect actress for the part and the perfect part for the actress. And then there were all those long-careered British character actors being totally believable. Whenever we watch a recorded movie, my wife makes me stop it several times to go pee or get a snack. Not here. We watched it all the way through without interruption.The only problem is that when things go at a measured pace, the little goofs that are made in any movie become blatantly obvious. But that's a very minor quibble. Start this one and be prepared to be charmed.

Old age these days seems like a curse. The scientists are trying to extend the longevity of life, but we don't know what to do with old people. They remind us of passage and ravages of time. Wrinkles on one's face are not inviting respect but shame and panic. This lovely little movie tells a common story. After losing a husband Sarah Palfray finds that her daughter and grandson don't have the time and interest to pay her a visit. She slowly starts to build her new life. Dame Joan Plowright plays her with warmth and sense of humor, avoiding cheap sentimentality. Young Rupert Friend is more than just a pretty face, we'll see much more of him in future. And, of course the gems of almost every British movie, marvelous character actors like Anna Massey and Georgina Hale. Telling a story is a dying art. Fortunately not everybody gave up on it.