Ladies in Lavender

Plot synopsis:
Set in picturesque coastal Cornwall, in a tight-knit fishing village in 1936, Ladies in Lavender stars Judi Dench and Maggie Smith playing the leading roles of sisters Ursula (Dench) and Janet Widdington (Smith). A gifted young Polish violinist from Krakow, Andrea (played by German actor Daniel Brühl) is bound for America when he is swept overboard by a storm. When the Widdington sisters discover the handsome stranger on the beach below their house, they nurse him back to health. However, the presence of the musically talented young man disrupts the peaceful lives of the sisters and the community in which they live.
Holidaying artist Olga Daniloff, the sister of famed violinist Boris Daniloff, becomes interested in Andrea after hearing him play the violin. As time progresses, Olga and Andrea grow closer. Olga tells her brother of Andrea's talent, and he asks to meet Andrea in London. Although Andrea cares deeply for the sisters, he knows this is his chance to start a career, and he leaves with Olga without saying goodbye to the women. He later sends them a letter, along with a portrait of himself painted by Olga, thanking them for saving his life. The sisters travel to London to attend Andrea's first public performance in Britain, while the rest of the village listens in on the wireless.

Tags: romantic, flashback

Review:
Short stories often make better films than full novels as is evident in the case of JD Locke's 'Ladies in Lavender' as adapted for the screen and directed by the multi-talented Charles Dance.
Given the barest outline of a quiet little idea of a 'fairy tale', LADIES IN LAVENDER becomes an unfolding meditation of quiet lives altered by an incident that awakens sleeping needs and emotions.Ursula (Judi Dench) and Janet (Maggie Smith) are elderly sisters living a quiet life of gardening, strolling the cliffs and beach of Cornwall, knitting, and reading.
A Russian visitor to the town, Olga (Natascha McElhone), the requisite 'evil witch' for a fairy tale, hears Andreas play, informs him she has a cousin who is a famous violinist, and attracts him away from Cornwall to London where he ultimately gives his own concert.Those are the bare facts of the film's story.
Likewise Daniel Brühl is superb in a role far different from his usual German repertoire (Goodbye Lenin!, The Edukators, Love in Thoughts) and manages to create the illusion that he is actually playing the violin (while the true artist is Joshua Bell in some stunning performances).
This film bursts into life in a few electrifying scenes - but these scenes are perhaps muted by the general leisurely air of the whole.What can be said is that this film belongs to Maggie Smith: although Judi Dench has the lovelorn role of the smitten sister, it is Dame Maggie who has the wider variety of emotions, the presence, and the charisma which gives the film the energy it needs to involve the viewer.
For some reason, I dvr'd this movie the other day, because I love the Dames Maggie Smith and Judi Dench.
Who but Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith could play elderly sisters who don't particularly agree too much with each other's conventions utlizing such subtle acting talents?
Its overall impressionistic and bland atmosphere of old rural England with seemingly plain, but emotionally tense story has a mollifying effect on our senses, long warped by clink-clank of special effects and overblown plots.If one has to compare this film with other forms of art, "Ladies in Lavender" feels like a fine piece of vintage literature, transfered on screen and complemented with exquisite acting and gorgeous music.
After all, it's not the story of the stranger that is so important; but the story of their loneliness and attachment to this young man that is the cornerstone of the plot.Not as shattering as some more action-driven movies, this film is a good treat for those who want to get away from the din of our modern life and enjoy some excellent music for precious one and a half hours..
So what this film was saying was - these ladies have been in storage a while, forgotten - and only when the young Polish guy comes into their lives do they flicker back to life.The usual superb performances from Judi and Maggie, what makes them so good, in Judi Dench's case particularly, is that you can *see* what they are thinking before they even speak.
It may have been originally a Mousehole speciality, but like Yorkshire pudding, has long since spread to other areas.Ladies in Lavender is one of those British films which will become a classic for its gentle theme, fantastic setting (inside and out) superb lighting and sound - and a good, strong story line..
Like Il Postino, Ladies in Lavender is a period piece, set around about the same time as Radford's film, which zeroes in on a sleepy coastal town and a specific inhabitant whose life has been somewhat bereft of incident, let alone incident with the opposite sex, and often, we feel, sheltered.
As either films progress, we will come to watch this lead go on to both interact as well as advance the nature of their feelings for the previously exterior individual; thus leading to all sorts of complications to do with lust and anger which lead to overwhelming residing sentiments.The film follows that of Judi Dench's Ursula, an elderly woman living in a Cornish town with her sister Janet – played by the seemingly ever-consummate Maggie Smith.
Culturally, and in terms of exposure to life and whatnot, Janet appears indelibly more advanced than her sister; brief establishments that go a long way to tee up what will be Ursula's tale of having to come to terms with certain feelings and drive a strand of her own that will go against this established patriarchy.Where we come to sense few ever get out, and that sense of the whole place being entirely tied in to one another in that community driven way some places are, we sense the film's catalyst arriving in the form of a young man washed up on the nearby shore through Daniel Brühl's Andrea could be quite the occasion.
McElhone plays a Russian love rival named Olga whom turns up and reveals herself to paint rather than merely knit; someone whom we enjoy observing at home, barefoot, and blowing smoke into the air from her cigarette as she sports a loose gown and sits comfortably on a chair in an extravagant looking house.The film gently constructs Ursula's gradual coming to feel for this young man, eventually revealed to be a Polish violinist.
"If music be the language of love, play on"- Very true statement you know.I wasn't expecting to like Ladies in Lavender, but being a lover of both Maggie Smith and Judi Dench, I knew I had to see it.
The music composed I think was one of those elements that made the film so touching, it was extremely beautiful.The direction from Charles Dance, who acted so well in Bleak House, is subtle, and this allows each actor to bring their character and the sophisticated screenplay to life.
The supporting cast were outstanding as well, Natascha McElhone, David Warner and Miriam Margoyles give suitably deft performances and it works for this sort of film.Overall, very beautiful and touching, particularly worth seeing for the acting and the music.
There is a small galaxy of wrinkly British acting talent supporting the leads not least amongst whom is the hilarious Miriam Margolyes as the grumpy old servant Dorcas.A young Polish sailor is washed mysteriously ashore on the rocks near where the old sisters (Smith and Dench) live.
LADIES IN LAVENDER is saved by these two ladies and their screen presence and the ping-pong-like banter with each other.The two veteran actresses play Janet (Smith) and Ursula (Dench,) two sisters living a comfortable and mundane life in Cornwall, England in 1936.
Their comfort zone, which is already disturbed, becomes more so when a young German female painter (Natascha McElhone)also shows an interest in the young man.Like in TEA WITH MUSSOLINI, Maggie Smith's character is the more level-headed and pragmatic, while Judi Dench's Ursula is overly-sensitive and borderline childlike.
"Ladies in Lavender" (2004) is a film starring two of the best British actresses, Dame Judy Dench and Dame Maggie Smith as two lonely sisters, a widow and an old maid who live quietly and uneventfully in their cottage on the seaside in Cornwall, England.
Two elderly sisters take in a young Polish man who washes up on their beach.You can search this film in an attempt to identify an obscure filming style, go on and on about the two ladies who star in this work, or preen and posture over the quality performance of Daniel Brühl...or you can merely enjoy this work for what it is: A beautiful drama; one fraught with intrigues.This is very well written, and highly enjoyable, though it is not anything I would watch again out of choice, the first viewing was quite good.
Janet, one of the sisters, played by Maggie, is a widow from that war and lives with her sister Ursula, a spinster, played by Judi.The story is delicate and mindful of others - Whales of August, Tea with Mussolini, but it has its own strength - the unrequited love that Ursula feels for the young man that the sisters rescue from the shore.Charles Dance does a superb job both with the writing and the directing of such a flimsy tale.
The two main characters are outstanding and they give wonderful performances as two dotty old sisters who live together in a wonderful old cottage on the coast line of England.The story is great and keeps you intrigued right up to the end.
Dance is the writer-director of the film, with the superior pairing of Judi Dench and Maggie Smith as the sisters Ursula and Janet, and inclusion of talented Daniel Bruhl as Andrea the center of attention, Natascha McElhone as the lovely Olga.
The story is a charming one with strong performances, and the film includes beautiful natural locales in Cornwall, England, captured by cinematographer Peter Biziou.The soundtrack of "Ladies in Lavender" is endearing.
(2004), directed and scripted by Charles Dance, is a triumph for two of the world's greatest actors-- Dame Judi Dench as Ursula, and Dame Maggie Smith as Janet.Ursula and Janet are sisters, living in a large house on the coast of Cornwall.
When one sees that both Maggie Smith and Judi Dench are in a movie, you almost automatically expect a very good film with brilliant acting.
Two great actresses, portraying a genuinely beautiful, moving story, and it's all handled by a director who really knows what he is doing, and who delivers a little masterpiece.Maggie Smith and Judi Dench can say a dozen lines of script with just a glance.
A Film for Grown Ups. By the standards set by Hollywood mayhem the pace of 'Ladies in Lavender' is very slow, but that importantly allows character development, as both sisters carrying differing emotional baggage we never quite understand are effected by their nubile male discovery on the beach.
This film takes place in the late 1930s.The problem with the film is that the sisters, played nicely by Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, are not able to fully develop their characters.
"Ladies in Lavender" is like "Whales in August" crossed with "Swept from the Sea." Regardless of the slight period story, which peters out three-quarters through, it is a joy watching Judi Dench and Maggie Smith interact on screen together.Dench gets to expand her portrayal of a childlike, somewhat mentally handicapped woman from a different direction than in "Iris." Her subtlety shows up all those actors who play such characters over the top, as we are never sure exactly how much this sister understands about the people and situations around her, protected as she is in a small, familiar town, because she just seems a bit off-kilter here and there, particularly in her emotional reactions.
Dench makes her exploration of unfamiliar feelings touching, as the elderly spinster becomes ever more fascinated by the handsome stranger who washes up by the house she shares with her sister (Smith) who had a bit more exposure to the world before she retreated after the first world war to care for her.Daniel Brühl only has brief flashes of how adorable he was in "Goodbye, Lenin!," coming across marginally less stiff than the object of the attention of an older woman in "Being Julia." Even playing a violin he does manage to inject some testosterone into the proceedings.Natascha McElhone is also a bit bland, especially as her relationship with the violinist doesn't go the direction we're assuming it will, but then Joshua Bell's mesmerizing playing on the soundtrack probably trumps Brühl's appeal here.The Cornwall scenery is lovely, and the movie is equally only lovely views.This is the kind of movie that makes one wonder how the British managed to populate an empire without procreation..
The accents when they speak 'fluent' German are non existent and i basically listened to the audio while i surfed the net ( like now ).The best acting in this movie comes from the maid played by Miriam Margolyes as Olga the maid with a typically maid performance i.e fast talking, bossy, fat, and lumbering at great pace around her kitchen.No wonder they ended up being spinsters..
Judi Dench and Maggie Smith play to type, but both are good when they get to the heart and humanise their characters in later scenes.
This beautiful movie has great moments of humour and tenderness as two elderly sisters rescue a young man and help him regain his health after he is washed up on a beach near their home in southwestern England.
The movie is brilliant in its treatment of village life and the way the two sisters, admirably performed by Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, gave the young Polish violinist (Daniel Bruhl) the care, rest and medical assistance he needed to launch his career.
We also come to know the two women, "ladies in lavender", who find an affection for the youth that helps heal their own unfulfilled desires; in the case of Janet (Maggie Smith), a husband lost in the previous war and Ursula, no love at all in a world where many young men never returned home.
Ursula (Judi Dench) and Janet (Maggie Smith) are two sisters starting to care for a wounded stranger (Andrea; Daniel Brühl) they find washed up near their beach house in Cornwall.
It has similarities to Babettes gæstebud / Babette's Feast: The modesty and simplicity of the lives the people in the village lead, but also their good nature by caring for people regardless of their background; And unable to recognize great talent (cooking in that film, playing violin by Joshua Bell here).Not the simple story is interesting, but the way the backgrounds and motivations of all four involved are only hinted at and never made explicit: Andrea and Olga are almost certainly (Jewish) refugees, Andrea stranded on his way to the U.S., the bad marriage of Janet and lack of love in the life of Ursula, as she starts to love Andrea like the love she never had.
Ladies in Lavender Ursula (Judi Dench) and Janet (Maggie Smith) are two sisters living in a quaint Cornish village in the 1930's.
When a young man named Andrea (Daniel Brühl, 'Goodbye Lenin!') washes up on the beach just outside their seaside cottage one night, the two sisters set about nursing the stranger back to health, with help from the local doctor (David Warner).
Dance recalls the similarly themed 1999 film 'Tea with Mussolini' in the pairing of Smith with actress Judi Dench, who deftly portrays Ursula as a restless woman, with an unquenchable desire to be loved by somebody far beneath her years.
A German actor in his second English-language film (following 2000's 'Deeply'), Brühl's tender disposition, along with an entertaining Miriam Margoyles as the sisters' housekeeper, helps manage to form an agreeable motion picture.Following Andrea's quest to return to his previous life, 'Ladies in Lavender' builds up to a well-staged concert scene, which essentially brings the story full circle.
Judi Dench and Maggie Smith star as Ursula and Janet, sisters who are living together in old age.
Two elderly sisters (Maggie Smith and Judi Dench) live along the Cornish coast in England.
It is always an immense pleasure to watch great British actors in period pieces.This movie is no exception.1930's in a small Cornwall village,two elderly sisters with a crusty maid and a lot of repressed emotions and passions in the air."Ladies in Lavender is like a postcard from old times,brings smile to your face,but doesn't say very much.That happens often with movies based on short stories.
It seemed that this crowd was starving for a gentle story with the two great actresses, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.
I would like to write Ms. Dench and Ms. Smith, the young man, and the woman who played the maid, but it's too difficult to find good addresses for such persons.
Simple, clean story-telling w/ excellent performances and attention to the details that give it shape and make it interesting.Okay, I'm biased because I love Maggie Smith and Judi Dench and, although this is only the second time (after "Goodbye Lenin") that I've seen Daniel Brühl, he's already becoming a fave w/ me.
Dames Maggie Smith and Judi Dench play aging sisters by the seaside in a sort of a Cornish version of THE WHALES OF AUGUST.
Judi Dench and Maggie Smith are two of the best actresses in the world but "Ladies in Lavender" is, unfortunately, an utterly improbable bore, and the script gives Ms. Dench little to work with other than an unconcealed love (possibly sexual, more likely maternal) for the young man washed up on the shoreline next to their home just outside a Cornwall village.
Maggie Smith and Judi Dench play sisters who live together in rural area along the British coast in 1936.
After watching movies like this, I sometimes sit and think about how people have to write out a story or a script before it can be made into a film.
"Ladies in Lavender" seems to have been tailor made for its two stars.This is the story of a young man that is found by two lonely sisters living above the beach.
A lot of questions about the absurdity of the situation are never answered by the screen play, let alone how Andrea, in a matter of days, by the magic of the movies, becomes a soloist with the BBC Symphony orchestra, something that perhaps better and more talented musicians never get to do in their lives!"Ladies in Lavender" is the perfect way to spend almost two hours in the company of Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, two of the most beloved grand dames of the English cinema.
Miriam Margoyles plays the maid and David Warner is seen as the local doctor.This film will reward all fans of Maggie Smith and Judi Dench..
I was attracted to this movie first, because it has Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, playing sisters.
This is a character story, an evocation of people, time, and place, like so many wonderful small English films.