Film (2012)
Directed by John Madden
Screenplay by Ol Parker and Deborah Moggach
With Judi Dench (evelyn Greenslade), Bill Nighy (Douglas Ainslie), Penelope Wilton (Jean Ainslie), Maggie Smith (Muriel Donnelly), Tom Wilkinson (Graham Dashwood), Dev Patel (Sonny Kapoor), Delia Imrie (Madge Hardcastle), Tena Desae (Sunaina)
Several aging Britishers of various stations in life find themselves seeking out senior accommodations at a new hotel in India. All of them have read about it on the internet, and because of their varied circumstances – impoverishment among them – they have traveled across the globe to settle down in their advancing years.
Graham Dashwood (Tom Wilkinson), a just-retired jurist, is gay and seeks out a long lost Indian lover. Douglas and Jean Ainslie (Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton) are an unhappy couple maintaining togetherness through years of habit and dedication. Evelyn Greenslade (Judi Dench) is widowed and lonely and forms a natural, sympathetic relationship with Douglas. And Muriel Donnelly (Maggie Smith) is a retired racist housekeeper who is none too pleased about having to rely on people of color for her well-being.
Holding it up with boundless enthusiasm, Sonny Kapoor (Dev Patel) is the wildly optimistic proprietor of the hotel who loves his girlfriend Sunaina (Tena Desae) ferociously and wants to keep both hotel and girlfriend despite all the odds.
This great little Indian travelogue cum narrative includes several additional stories about the fortunes of the elder set. Though sentimental, it is perfectly delightful. The actors are superb and John Madden’s direction is great. Not high art, but a quaint tale filled with hopes, dreams and disappointments, it is, on balance, fairly easygoing fare. There are, to be sure, revelations, losses and dead ends, but they are not, in the end, tragedies.
It is a delight to see this troupe of mature and masterful actors do its thing.
Maggie Smith is a pleasure in this acidly bittersweet role that travels from poisonous to homeopathic. Judi Dench’s unequaled capacity to depict regal restraint that protects a wounded heart is just right. Bill Nighy suffers nobly as the dutiful but burdened husband, and Penelope Wilton (seen recently as the cloying Isobel Crawley in Downton Abbey) is effectively frustrated and anxious as his unsatisfied wife.
Tom Wilkinson gives a regally pained portrayal as the gay barrister. And how nice it is to have a film in which the old gay guy can come right out to his aging peers without a moment’s hesitation.
Dev Patel, who made his mark in Slumdog Millionaire (2008), is rapturously energetic as the struggling hotel entrepreneur.
John Madden, who had directed Mrs. Brown (1997), Shakespeare in Love (1998) and Proof (2005), does the honors here capably. This film exhibits the taste and delicacy with which he carried off those other endeavors.
I was in India a couple of years ago, and this film recalled all the color, energy and complexity I vividly remember. It made me want to go back. If you are into seeing those rich colors and watching great actors cook up some delightful Indian flavors under the guidance of a great director in a film that is sentimental and enjoyably touching, but not high art, this one is for you.
– BADMan
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