Con’s Score: 3.5 English teas
How many of us have close friends we regularly catch up with and spend a whole weekend with. It’s a time you can relax and say whatever you want without harsh judgement, and have a lot of laughs with.
You’ve probably been asked if you could invite anyone you’d like to dinner, who would it be? This charming documentary gives you an idea of what it would be like if you had chosen Dame Judy Dench, Dame Maggie Smith, Dame Joan Plowright and Dame Eileen Atkins.
These legendary English actresses have been spending weekends together at Plowright’s country estate for decades and decided one year to let the cameras in.
There’s little pretension about the making. We see camera people setting up and the actresses chatting to them. We hear director Roger Michelle asking short questions off screen. Maggie Smith isn’t as comfortable with it all but is the cheekiest. She admits she still hasn’t watched Downton Abbey.
They talk about their past, their paths into acting and the terror of working with Laurence Olivier, who married Joan Plowright despite an age difference. Interestingly, they all admitted to still feeling fear before going on stage and also how Dench attracts all the best roles.
The only time they react against their interviewer is when he asks about getting old. Dench tells the story of blasting a hospital intern who asked who her carer was.
At 83 minutes it’s a nice length as the ladies do get tired. “Has anyone told you how old we are?” asks Maggie.
It finishes with a monologue read by Dench which talks about actors and how they will vanish into energy. It’s like an early eulogy, but you wouldn’t dare tell these ladies that.
If you’re under 50, this is like being invited to Nanna’s to hang out with her friends. The difference is that they’re all so damn interesting, you don’t know what to ask as they’re better when they’re allowed to roll. If you’re over 50, this is like hanging out with old friends you haven’t seen a while. There’s lots of laughs, chuckling and looking back at old times. No excitement of the new, but a warm reaffirmation of the past. And when they’re as delightful as these legends, it’s a comfortable way to pass the time.
I saw this film yesterday and while I enjoyed their company, the very pretty surroundings, first in the garden and then when the weather chased them inside, in Joan’s lovely home, made it extra special and delightful. They were bright and funny together and you couldn’t help but be happy sitting there with them. I was disappointed that there was quite so much about their early roles and early lives, all relating to their careers and it was probably a little bit too much ‘ïn house” for me. I think they probably enjoyed the experience a wee bit more than the audience. I would have liked to have seen a little more about them personally and a little less about them professionally. I don’t mean I would want to intrude on their lives that they didn’t want to share but they shared nothing of them as the ladies we have come to know and love over so many years.