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Ladies in Lavender
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Capturing Maggie Smith And Judi Dench Off Tape By Peter Marks -- Washington Post Staff Writer -- Thursday, May 26, 2005 -- NEW YORK Maggie Smith is staring at my tape recorder with a look of concern. "The light's not on," she says. The voice-activated machine, for some reason, has deactivated. Judi Dench, sitting next to her, looks on, both sympathetic and amused. "It's very, very tired," Dench says at another point, as Charles Dance, their director, suddenly darts into and out of the living room of the hotel suite. I shake the recorder vigorously, demanding its return to duty. The device complies, stops, sputters to life in brief spurts. Smith is now laughing a throaty Maggie Smith laugh, which starts Dench, an inveterate giggler, to chortling as well. "It's exhausted," Smith tsk-tsks, seeming to enjoy herself enormously. The actor's nightmare is bursting onstage and not remembering the words. A reporter's version is sitting for an important interview and not being able to record it. The latter seems to be my fate on this wet afternoon in Lower Manhattan, where I am to sit for a promised hour -- this usually translates, on a publicist's clock, to 43 minutes -- with two of the finest actresses alive. Smith and Dench are the stars of "Ladies in Lavender," a small-budget period movie, set in Cornwall on the English coast, about a pair of aged sisters and the young foreigner who washes up, literally, on their doorstep. Though the film, which opens in Washington tomorrow, was shot two years ago, it's only now being released in this country, and the actresses are seated side by side on a couch to talk about making it. The atmosphere in the suite is jolly. Dench, in light-colored jacket and pants, and Smith, in a dark ensemble of similar style, are unfailingly charming. And they're ready to be entertained. (Jet-lagged, they have been talking to reporters all day.) Smith has the disarming habit of collapsing into Dench's arms whenever she's in stitches. In our encounter, this happens often. They've known each other forever, these remarkable women, and although the auras they project on stage and screen, as well as the kinds of roles they play, are vastly different, they've lived parallel lives in important ways. Born 19 days apart in December 1934 -- both are 70 -- they live about 40 minutes from each other in southern England. Both are widowed and have children in the acting trade: Dench's daughter, Finty Williams, in fact, plays her younger self in "Ladies in Lavender." Both belong to a generation of British classical actors who contributed to a golden age of London theater from the 1960s through the 1980s, at burgeoning institutions such as the National Theatre (now the Royal National) and the Royal Shakespeare Company. And both are among an elite group of British stage stars who've broken through in movies and earned Oscars for their efforts. (Dench has one statuette, for "Shakespeare in Love." Smith owns two, for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and "California Suite.") They first worked together in the late 1950s when they were cast in a production of "As You Like It." Smith played Celia, the second lead, while Dench was Phebe, one of those lower-tier Shakespearean bumpkins. Each went on to do stellar and varied stage work: Smith's credits range from Desdemona in "Othello," with Laurence Olivier, to the hugely popular comedy "Lettice and Lovage" in both London and New York, and Dench's include "Macbeth," with Ian McKellen, and the London production of "Cabaret," in which she played Sally Bowles. In the past few years, they've performed in several projects together, among them Franco Zeffirelli's "Tea With Mussolini" and David Hare's play "Breath of Life." But before their joint appearance in "A Room With a View" in 1985, they hadn't seen much of each other in some time. "We were doing lots of other things," Dench says perkily. "Lots of other things," Smith echoes. "Maggie was getting married, I was getting married," Dench continues. "It wasn't really until 'Room With a View' that we suddenly found ourselves flying to Italy on the same plane." The conversation turns to "Ladies in Lavender," which Dance wrote and directed. Set in 1936, the movie is a portrait of the sisters' emotional lives and an unraveling of the mystery of the young man they nurse back to health. Shot in the space of a month, it was apparently a pleasure to make. "I didn't have to do much directing, anyway," says Dance, himself an actor of note. "I think there were two occasions when I was so bold as to suggest a slightly different turn or a move at a particular time. The joy of having people like this is that they don't arrive with an entourage and they come onto the set and do the job better than anybody else." Since the distraction of the recording device has unnerved me, it only makes sense that I should unnerve everybody else with an observation about the film. I innocently suggest that in the first few minutes of "Ladies in Lavender," before we know they are sisters, the nature of the relationship between Dench's character and Smith's remains vague, and that "lavender" is a color suggestive of a certain type of love. At the outset, the actresses are seen walking together on a beach. "The first scene," I point out, "ends with the two of you going up the stairs to bed." The women stare back at me incredulously. "Oh, please!" Dench declares. "You're filthy-minded!" Smith chimes in, in her best Miss Jean Brodie voice: "You've got a dirty, filthy mind!" A publicist, sitting with another publicist at a table in the room, cheerfully interjects that there is a magazine in Minnesota called Lavender, devoted to gay and lesbian issues. "I tried to change the title," Dance says. "Yes, you were told!" Smith says. "No, Charlie!" Dench says. That, anyway, is what my tape recorder claims was spoken. In an effort to steer the discussion in some direction, I ask, "Is it because of English lavender in the countryside?" Smith replies, "It means ladies who are slightly past it." Ah. I try, once more, to excuse my initial minutes of misapprehension about the film. "I think it's the way your mind works!" Smith says. "What a squalid -- " Later, Dance takes umbrage at the suggestion that the character Dench plays is neurotic -- she falls in love with the 23-year-old stranger -- and then there is some talk about the lovely catering for the movie, and time's up. I'm a bit lightheaded. I thank the actresses and shake the recorder one last time. Smith nods at the machine. "I hope that works," she says.
Nothing like a Dame: Judi Dench and Maggie Smith BPI Entertainment News Wire -- May 18, 2005, Wednesday By SIMI HORWITZ, Back Stage "The challenge in playing Ursula is the same as playing Cleopatra or any other character," notes Dame Judi Dench. "You have to make that person a living being. With Ursula, I have to make understandable a woman of that age who has had no emotional disturbance in her life until Andrea appears." Dench is talking about her starring role opposite Dame Maggie Smith in the movie "Ladies in Lavender." Set in Cornwall in 1936, it tells the story of two aging sisters, Janet and Ursula Widdington, whose uneventful lives in a stone house overlooking the ocean abruptly change when they discover a young man lying unconscious on the windswept beach. It is never made entirely clear why Andrea (Daniel Bruhl), a Polish émigré headed for America, washed up on the sand, half drowned. Nonetheless, he is there. And as the two sisters nurse Andrea back to health, they grow increasingly attached to him -- especially Ursula, whose feelings for him are intense and painful. His presence begins to shatter the calm surface of their day-to-day existence. Private and troubling subjects that were never talked about are broached for the first time. Dench and Smith, who meet with me in a Battery Park hotel, acknowledge that much remains unsaid in this evocative film, not least the exact nature of Ursula's feelings for Andrea. Does he remind her of an unrequited love or a failed love affair in her past? What are Janet's feelings for Andrea and what is her personal history? Have Janet and Ursula really co-existed all that peacefully, or is there a long-repressed secret between the two -- perhaps even a betrayal committed by one of them? "No, I believe the two sisters have lived harmoniously their entire lives," says Smith, a 70-year-old native of Ilford, northeast of London. "Janet was engaged to a young man who died in the First World War. She knows something about love, at least once. But it's true she and Ursula never talked about him or Janet's feelings for him until Andrea comes into their lives. Janet is fond of Andrea but becomes alarmed at her sister's feelings for him." Adds the 70-year-old North Yorkshire-born Dench, "Ursula has a childlike quality and doesn't know what she feels for Andrea. Is it her love of beauty? Or is it the love of a woman for a child, or the love of a woman for a man? She doesn't understand what's happening to her, except that she has gone through an entire life without love. It's not that she has had an unrequited love or failed love affair. She's had nothing, and now it's too late and it's not fair." Undoubtedly, Ursula and Janet are very much of their time and place: two aging spinsters living in an isolated world, haunted -- perhaps no longer even haunted -- by the vanquished hopes of the past. Although these two characters couldn't be more removed from Dench and Smith, the actresses understand them, especially "when you see where and how they lived and realize that in the '30s, there was no television or many other distractions," remarks Dench. "They have no close friends and spend their days eating and knitting and going for walks." She points out that more than almost anything, the vintage clothes that she and Smith wore on screen made these characters and their worldviews very real to her. "The material," she says. "The corsets," adds Smith. What's striking about Dench and Smith, despite their stature as international stars -- with many Olivier, Tony, and Academy awards between them -- is how low-key they are about what they do and how they do it. Acting is second nature and neither one talks, or seems to want to talk, about character analysis or preparation. Dench refers to herself as a "jobber," loves to work, chooses her projects largely on the basis of the people involved, and then moves on to the next one. Smith also tackles each role in a workmanlike way, without fanfare. But Smith acts less frequently than Dench, though she's not especially perturbed by it, not at this stage of the game anyway. And each dame refers to herself as an "actress," as opposed to the politically correct term "actor." Smith quips without apology or further explanation, "I call myself 'actress.' Old habits die hard." "What's wrong with 'actress?' " Dench asks rhetorically. "Does the word suggest a slut? I like it for that reason." She makes it clear that when she says "slut," she means gypsy, an old-fashioned roving performer, moving from show to show. Of the two, the gamine Dench is the gentler and more forthcoming. She admits, for example, that when Sir Peter Hall approached her to play Cleopatra, she was stunned -- and also frightened. "Why would you want a menopausal dwarf to play Cleopatra?" was her response, she recalls. "People laughed openly when they heard I was going to play Cleopatra." Smith, tall and patrician, is cautious and reserved, perhaps a little impatient with yet another interview. She has a sardonic edge. Of her title, which she received in 1990, two years after Dench, she is cavalier. "I got it for swimming." (She was granted the honorific during a year in which she didn't act due to a broken arm. All she did that year was swim, she says.) The two ladies have known each other for 50 years, have appeared together in four productions -- including the films "A Room With a View" (1985) and "Tea With Mussolini" (1999) and the David Hare play "The Breath of Life" (2002) - and have shared some of the same life experiences. Both were married to theatre folk (Dench to actor Michael Williams, Smith first to actor Robert Stephens and later to playwright Beverley Cross), both have grown offspring in the theatre (Dench's daughter Finty Williams and Smith's sons Chris Larkin and Toby Stephens), and both are widowed: Dench lost her husband in 2001, while Smith lost hers in 1998. They also share similar views on a number of topics, including how much more difficult it is today to launch an acting career. There are just fewer opportunities, they say. When they were starting out in the 1950s, there were repertory companies in virtually every town in England, where actors could hone their craft after either studying acting in the classroom (Dench attended the Central School of Speech and Drama in London) or taking the apprenticeship route (Smith's steppingstone). Early on in their careers, each performed with the Old Vic. "In repertory companies, you learned by watching others and by making your own mistakes," says Dench, who briefly toyed with the idea of becoming a set designer. "Now there are so few places to practice. And years ago no one talked about fame and fortune. Making a name for yourself was only a hope. Now young actors see that they can get on television right away." On the flip side, comments Smith, "Young actors today can do so much more than we did. They can sing and dance -- with or without clothes." With a glance at Dench, she adds, "You've sung and danced." "With my clothes on." Although Dench may be best known for roles such as her Oscar-winning eight-minute cameo as Queen Elizabeth I in "Shakespeare in Love," she also created the role of Sally Bowles in the London premiere of "Cabaret," played Desiree Armfeldt in "A Little Night Music" at the National Theatre, and was rehearsing to play Grizabella in the original West End production of "Cats" until an injury forced her out. She also has several Broadway credits under her belt, including "Twelfth Night," "King Henry V," and "Amy's View," for which she won a 1999 Tony Award. (But the most challenging role she ever tackled, she says, was Cleopatra.) Likewise, Smith, who won an Oscar for her performance in the title role of "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and is now widely recognized as professor Minerva McGonagall in the "Harry Potter" movies, has starred on Broadway, too: Her credits include productions of "Private Lives," "Night and Day," and "Lettice and Lovage," the last earning her a Tony in 1990. She recalls that her most daunting role was Desdemona opposite Laurence Olivier in "Othello." Smith's latest movie, "Keeping Mum," will be released next year; Dench is currently shooting the film of Zoe Heller's novel "What Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal." At the moment, however, their thoughts are on "Ladies in Lavender" and their hope that it speaks to contemporary American audiences. Smith points out that one's response to the film is a function of one's experiences. But one thing is certain: She does not find the film's ethos dated. Smith recounts an article she read not long ago about a seemingly ordinary man in England who concealed in his garage a 1930s automobile that had never been driven. The preserved vintage car, discovered only after the man's death, shed light not simply on the life of an eccentric who, for whatever reason, chose to cling to the past; it was emblematic of an undisclosed inner life. And "Ladies in Lavender," she suggests, speaks precisely to that sensibility. For director Charles Dance, an actor making his film directing debut with "Ladies in Lavender," no actors were more suited to the roles of Janet and Ursula than Smith and Dench. His reason for casting the two dames, "apart from their formidable talents," he says, was who they are beneath the surface: "Judi has a personal quality that, despite her age, is very youthful. She's like a 17-year-old in some ways. She has an extraordinary outlook and demeanor. Ursula is a physical and emotional virgin. Judi is neither. But she has a childlike quality, something she has to suppress most of the time. This film allows her to show an essential part of who she is. "Similarly, Maggie has vulnerability that she can't ordinarily reveal," Dance continues. "In fact, she has cornered the market on playing brittle women who can demolish you with their acid wit. But beneath that there is a delicate sensitivity that she has a chance to show here." Indeed, when Ursula accuses Janet of insensitivity and Janet quietly responds, "On the contrary," it is one of the film's most heartbreaking moments. Smith and Dench have each had extraordinary careers. Yet looking back, Dench hints at a note of disappointment, while Smith is dismissive, evincing an almost fatalistic point of view. Asked how they'd redo their life journeys if they could, Dench grows thoughtful: "I'd have a lot more children," she offers unexpectedly. Smith remarks that redoing one's life is an "impossible idea, since nothing can be planned. And even if you do plan, it changes nothing anyway."
Thanks to Anca for sending me this interview
Ladies in Lavender -- Movies for Grownups Two Great Dames ... AARP Radio Interview -- Listen Online
Listen to the MP3 Format Audio Clip of the Interview Revered Dench and Smith Take an Ordinary Turn by Lynn Neary -- NPR Radio Interview
Click Here to Listen to MP3 Format Audio Clip of the
Interview Weekend Edition - Sunday, May 1, 2005 · Judi
Dench and Maggie Smith co-star in Thanks to Anca for bringing this to my attention
Parkinson Radio -- Sunday, November 14, 2004 --
Film Review
Thanks to Phil, UK, for sharing this clip
LA Times Calendar Weekend -- April 2005 New York Daily News -- April 2005 Charlie Rose Show -- April 2005 (includes Video Clips and Screen Captures) Showbiz Tonight -- April 2005 (includes Video Clip and Screen Captures) The Leonard Lopate Show -- April 2005 (includes Audio Clip)
Live with Regis and Kelly -- April 2005
(includes Video Clip and Screen Captures) Great Dames Respect, awards, and accolades aside, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith chalk a lot of their successes up to luck. By Jenelle Riley -- Backstage.com Online Interview
Photo By: Robin Holland Dames Judi Dench and Maggie Smith walk into a room carrying more than 100 years of combined acting experience, yet neither has ever heard of the Meisner Technique. "What's the Meisner Technique?" Smith asks in that clipped, patrician tone that has tackled everything from Shakespeare to Harry Potter. When a clumsy explanation of the basics is given, she waits a beat before crisply delivering a retort. "That's called acting," she remarks. "That's just walking into a room." Dench and Smith have a personal and working relationship that goes back several decades, when the two were doing plays in repertory at the Old Vic Theatre in England. It's a major understatement to note that, apart, they have had exceptional careers. One of the most revered actors in history, Smith has won two Academy Awards, five BAFTAs, a Tony, and an Emmy. An expert at drama and comedy, she has played everything from Desdemona opposite Laurence Olivier to a Mother Superior opposite Whoopi Goldberg. Dench is relatively new to movie stardom, having concentrated primarily on theatre before scoring her first Oscar nomination with 1998's Mrs. Brown. Since then, she has become a beloved onscreen presence with Oscar-nominated roles in Chocolat, Iris, and Shakespeare in Love--for which she won Best Supporting Actress with only eight minutes of screen time. Together, Smith and Dench have appeared onscreen in 1985's A Room With a View and 1999's Tea With Mussolini, but their latest project has them working closer than ever. Based on a short story by William J. Locke, Ladies in Lavender marks the directorial debut of actor Charles Dance, who co-starred with Smith in Gosford Park. The sweet, simple film tells the story of two sisters living a quiet existence in an English coastal town in 1936. When a mysterious stranger washes up on the shore, the two take him in and find their meticulously planned lives disrupted. As spinster sisters, Dench and Smith are lovely and heartbreaking, and their relationship rings with authenticity. In person, they continue to play off each other, trading quips and frequently admonishing each other with great affection. Back Stage West: This is not the first time you two have worked together; do you remember your first meeting? Judi Dench: It was 1958 at the Old Vic. The same dressing room. We shared it with Moyra Fraser. It was just several steps up from the stage. Maggie Smith: I can't remember the number, but it was opposite [No.] 8, where Gerald James was. Dench: We were doing Double Dealer, As You Like It, and Merry Wives of Windsor. Maggie was playing Celia in As You Like It; I was playing Phoebe. What were our names in The Double Dealer? Smith: Mrs...Mistress... I can't even remember the name. Dench: We were just a couple of actresses lucky enough to get acting jobs, sharing a dressing room. It was very early in our careers. BSW: Have you two been actively looking for projects to do together? Dench: No, they turn up. We didn't work together for a long time, not from the Vic right up to Room With a View. Smith: There was a long gap. Dench: From that, we've been lucky enough to be cast together in things. BSW: Have you ever competed for the same role? Smith: No, I don't think so. We have played the same role in different productions, though. BSW: You each have long histories in film and theatre. Do you have a preference between the two mediums? Dench: I prefer the theatre. Smith: Yes, me too. Dench: Ideally, the thing we used to do so much is the repertory system, where you can be in three or four plays at once and do a different matinee and a different evening. That way, you stay very fresh and frightened, and people get a chance to see a lot of plays. Smith: That was wonderful. When I was doing rep at the National we would do a long, long Othello in the afternoon, and then Hay Fever in the evening felt like a holiday. Dench: They don't do that anymore because of expense. They haven't got the money to do those huge changes between two shows. It's a shame; it's everybody's loss, really. BSW: Can you tell us about the difference in preparation between stage and screen? Dench: It's exactly the same process, exactly the same. Smith: Just sort of a miniature version, when you have a camera right in your face. Dench: With film, picture a wedge where the filming bit is the least you have to do. There's so much more after that. With television, you have to do a bit more, and with stage, the acting is even more. BSW: When you say there's more to moviemaking, do you mean the promotion aspect? Dench: Well, that's all I've ever known about filming, really, since Harvey Weinstein turned Mrs. Brown into a film. The publicity aspect kind of went with it. Smith: But it is a recent kind of thing, it seems. Dench: I don't mind it, because it means coming out and being [in] places like New York. It's just that it's a big rush. Smith: It's a lot to do in a short space of time. Dench: It's not enough time to see friends and do a bit of shopping and see the theatre. BSW: You've both enjoyed long, prosperous careers as actors. Is there a secret to maintaining such longevity in this business? Smith: It's fortune. Just good luck. I mean, I tend to do things that come up. I've never had any sort of structure to anything, and I don't think Jude has, either. You go where there's work. But I've never planned anything; it's just sort of luck. Dench: And don't you find, Mags, that people say, "You're so busy, shouldn't you take a rest?" Why should I take a rest? I'm in this amazing minority where I'm doing something I absolutely love. I think we're very lucky to be employed, and the moment you start to take it all for granted, that's the moment it all feels like work. BSW: And, although you're widely respected as classical actors, you're not above doing fun, lighthearted projects, such as the Bond films [Dench plays M] or Harry Potter [where Smith plays Professor McGonagall]. Did you make a conscious choice to seek out more commercial fare? Smith: It's not a choice; it just comes up. Suddenly, out of the blue, somebody will ask you to do something extraordinary. And part of what's so terrific about it is that you don't know what's around any corner. You worry it will be a dead end at some point. At times I've thought, "Oh, there's nothing turning up." And something wonderful does. Dench: And, although Harry Potter and Bond look like fun, it's exactly the same process you have to work through. And it's tough. I think people think you just kind of phone it in, but it's not like that. There are long, long days when you're trying to get something right. In my case, it's talking about things--spy terms and espionage--where I have no idea what I'm talking about. BSW: Have you ever found yourself working on a project where you realized you didn't want to be there? And how did you get through it? Dench: Oh, yes. Smith: Yes, and you just tough it out. And it can turn out to be a huge success. You don't know, at least with films. You can also be in something in the theatre that you think won't work and it does, but that doesn't happen often. It's a dodgy line, isn't it? Dench: It's a dodgy line to not read the play and come to the first reading and realize you've made a mistake. Smith: Have you done that? Dench: Yes. Smith: Oh, Jude! Dench: The Royal Family, I did. And you told me, you warned me not to do it. Smith: I did tell you. Dench: I'm better now at reading and making choices. Smith: Oh, are you reading things now? Dench: Sometimes. Smith: Excellent! BSW: Wait, are you saying you frequently don't read scripts you commit to? Dench: Often I don't read it. Smith: But she gets someone to tell her about it. And didn't anyone ever tell you what that was about? Dench: No. Only you. We were swimming, and I remember you told me, and I knew it would be a bummer. BSW: But you stuck it out? Dench: Oh, I did stick it out. And, mind you, I think we enjoyed it much more than the audience. We had a very, very nice time. And I was working with Mag's son, Toby [Stephens], so we had a very nice time, indeed. Smith: You've worked with him as much as you've worked with me; he was in Bond. BSW: If you're not reading the scripts, what draws you to a part? Dench: The people. Smith: The director gets down on his knees and says, "I beg you, Judi." Then he acts it out, and she says, "Well, I'm not going to do it like that, but I'll do it." Dench: Or on the other hand, I'll say, "Oh, I'll do it exactly like that." We worked with Charles because it was his first film as a director. Maggie's worked with him as an actor. It's very nice to catch somebody's enthusiasm on their first film. Smith: And it's a terrific first film. Dench: You know, if you were to act a director who was playing a director for the first time in a film, you wouldn't have done anything remotely that Charlie did. He was entirely assured, knew what he wanted, and stuck it out with a lot of pressure behind him to get it done. Smith: And not enough money. It was a typical English film. BSW: Do you still find yourselves learning things about acting at this point in your careers? Smith: Oh, yes. Dench: Yes. When I saw Ladies in Lavender, I saw Maggie and thought, "Well, there's somebody who completely and utterly has cracked it." She might be embarrassed by me telling this.... Smith: I just have no idea what you mean by that. Dench: It's good that you don't know. Smith: When I see Judi, I just feel like giving up. I will never be that good. Dench: But we carry on. BSW: Do you find that younger generations of actors aren't as well-trained as in the past? Or can you tell? Dench: Sometimes, in Shakespeare. But, on the contrary, I think it's good to come in fresh, and if you work on Shakespeare a great deal and know the verse, it's something you can pass on. I think young actors do ask around and we discuss a lot, we go a lot into how it should be spoken. Also, I don't think acting can be taught at all. I think you can be taught to breathe and to project your voice, and the rest is up to you to learn from other people. You can't tell when you're on a set with someone what kind of training they've had. BSW: Having conquered great roles in comedy and drama, on stage and screen, is there anything left you're dying to do? Smith: No, we were talking about this [subject] this morning. There's nothing I want to do particularly. Dench: I do like being asked to do something different from what I last did. I have directed before, but I won't do it again. It's a bit lonely, and they gang up against you. Smith: I do think it would be lovely to just be able to walk away from it. Dench: But you never can. Smith: Well, you don't have to do the matinee. Dench: It's hard, though. [A play,] it gets up and walks away from you and doesn't want anything to do with you. I remember saying to an actress, "Why don't you do that business anymore with you sitting there and eating the apple?" And she said, "My mother came to see me and she didn't like it." That's why directors get upset when a preview goes up and your friends come and [the actors] say, "Don't you think I should do this instead?" because their friends told them to. BSW: What do you think makes a good director? Dench: It's somebody who understands the business. Smith: I don't know how anyone directs a film, really. Cameras are frightening, and there are so many bits to join to make art. Dench: One thing about making a film, directing or acting, is that you can't get bored. [It's been] said we're the only profession in the world who has to do something at exactly the same time, exactly every single night, and pretend we're doing it for the first time. That's a funny thing to do, isn't it? It can be hard to keep the freshness. Once, during Comedy of Errors at Stratford, we were all feeling a bit flat during the matinee. And I said, "There's a lady in a blue coat in the second or third row who's very keen, leaning forward. We'll do it for her." And she left at the intermission. I realized she was leaning forward because she'd fallen asleep. BSW
TWO DAMES
Thanks to Connie E, USA, for scanning and sending this image by Lillian Ross -- The New Yorker Issue of 2005-05-09 -- Posted 2005-05-02 Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, both holders of the title Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, flew in from London the other day to help promote the Tribeca Film Festival première of “Ladies in Lavender,” in which they play sisters. Their plane landed at 5:10 p.m.; by 7 p.m., they were seated in the restaurant of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Battery Park, valiantly projecting good nature about their mission. “I so wanted to have a bath in my room,” Dame Judi said. “Mog, could you work that metal stopper thing in your tub?” “No-o-o,” Dame Maggie said. “No bath for me, either.” Dame Maggie looked at her wrist- watch and said, “It’s about midnight for us.” She gave a restrained yawn. Dame Judi yawned, too. She said, “So little time. Mog, remember, we must shop.” “Oh, Jude, yes. That large store, Tiff-something. We laughed so much the last time we shopped.” “Yes, yes. Tiffany,” Dame Judi said. “If they let us out, we must go back there.” Dame Judi, who has deep-set, almond-shaped blue eyes and salt-and-pepper hair cut very short, wore a cream-colored pants suit; Dame Maggie, her eyes a lighter blue, her hair strawberry-blond, full, and thick, had on a black suit. The Dames, born a couple of weeks apart in 1934, met and became friends in 1958, when they were at the Old Vic. Both are Oscar winners. Both had husbands who died a few years ago. Both are a bit under five and a half feet tall. They ordered and quickly demolished lobster salads and a bottle of white wine. Then a businesslike young P.R. man arrived and presented them with their schedules for the next two days. “ ‘8 a.m. Hair/Makeup,’ ”Dame Maggie read, then said, “I might just not go to bed . . .” The start of the next morning had Dame Maggie giving an interview to Time, while Dame Judi traveled to ABC to do Regis and Kelly. Forty-minute drive to ABC. Dame Jud went on last, after Lucy Liu, who had ten minutes in which to talk about working for unicef, and several pairs of grade-school children ballroom dancing. During her nine minutes, Dame Judi sat, smiling and relaxed, and told Regis that she was cast as a snail at the age of five, but then wanted to be a stage designer, and changed her mind when she saw her older brother go in for acting. “No kidding!” Regis said exuberantly. Kelly asked, “Can you have anyone beheaded when you’re a Dame?” The audience laughed and applauded. Regis then showed a clip from “Ladies in Lavender.” He called Dame Judi a “great actress.” That was that. Forty-minute drive back to the Ritz. Together again at the hotel, the Dames did a taped segment for the “Today” show (thirty minutes); a Daily News interview and photo session (forty-five minutes); lunch with a Post reporter (an hour); a Los Angeles Times photo shoot (fifteen minutes) and phone interview (forty-five minutes); and an A.A.R.P. radio interview (fifteen minutes). At 4:30 p.m., the Dames got into a car again and drove (half an hour) to midtown for an interview on NPR’s “Weekend Edition.” Thirty minutes later, they were back in the car. Upon arrival at the hotel, they did what the P.R. man called a meet and greet, in the lobby. By that point, they said, they were trying to figure out how they might vary their answers to repetitions of the same questions, most of which concerned their long friendship and whether it got in the way of their acting. They’d started out explaining that their relationship helped their acting. “Then Jude went to just ‘No,’ ” Dame Maggie said. “We gave up,” Dame Judi said. “Tomorrow, Mog, we shop.” The second morning was given over to “Japanese Distributor Interview Contacts,” which meant talking, via an interpreter, to Japanese journalists. “Their questions were very long and very detailed,” Dame Judi said. “They got things all mixed up, but one of them was charming.” At 1:20 p.m., it was up to the Municipal Building, for “The Leonard Lopate Show,” on WNYC (forty minutes). At 4 p.m., back at the hotel, they were photographed, after a long wait, for the Washington Post, posing back to back, then face to face. By 5:30 p.m., at the Bloomberg Building on Park Avenue, they were being greeted by Charlie Rose. He started laughing as soon as he saw them. “Can I say, ‘Two Dames’?” he asked. He broke himself up, laughing. Later, he said, “I can tell this is a real friendship.” It was 7 p.m. En route in the car to CNN, on Columbus Circle, the Dames craned their necks to look for Tiffany’s. The driver said it was further east. “Oh, down there’s where Rumpelmayer’s used to be. Rumpelmayer’s is gone,” Dame Maggie said sadly. “That lovely counter! It was so divine.” “Where is Barneys?” Dame Judi asked. “Oh, after CNN I suppose it will be too late to shop.” Dame Maggie slumped. “I’d like to turn into a cat right now!” she said. “Yeeehphph!” she spat, pretending to claw. The P.R. man said that they would be on CNN’s “Showbiz Tonight,” live, following an interview with Lassie. At 7:40 p.m., the Dames went into the studio. “You guys were perfectly cast as sisters,” the CNN correspondent said. “How long have you guys known each other?”
'Ladies in Lavender': Gold-Standard Acting
By Nelson Pressley -- Special to The Washington Post Saturday, April 23, 2005 "Ladies in Lavender" is as quaint as its title promises, but the movie -- the directorial debut of actor Charles Dance -- is redeemed by the exquisitely calibrated performances of its two stars. Judi Dench and Maggie Smith play Ursula and Janet, two sisters aging gracefully by the sea until a gathering storm (it's 1936; think World War II) washes a strapping young foreigner onto their gorgeous strip of rocky Cornwall coastline. Ursula is utterly undone by this twist of fate, and Dench is mesmerizing as this long-sheltered woman who succumbs to an impossible, irrational love, while Smith (whose character is more worldly) puckers and frets impeccably by her side. "I'm the one who saw him first," Ursula says in one of her rare blunt grabs for Andrea (Daniel Bruehl), the handsome young Pole recuperating in the sisters' spare bedroom. Ursula -- in her seventies, mind you -- knows she ought to tamp this unseemly girlishness down, but she just can't , and Dench conveys Ursula's fragile state with stricken looks and gestures that hesitate mid-flight. It's as if Ursula were the one who washed up in a foreign land. Smith, who has no peer when it comes to prim disdain, teams beautifully with Dench as they etch in the details of the sisters' lifelong relationship. In fact, Dance gets full-bodied performances all around from a cast that includes Miriam Margoyles as the sisters' cheeky housekeeper and the lustrous Natascha McElhone as a Russian artist who looks like great news for Andrea. Dance indulges a weakness for sappy slo-mo at the tenderest moments, which is the last thing this sentimental fable needs, but his screenplay (from a William J. Locke short story) gets the odd surprising laugh, especially in the brief subtitles required by international characters whose common language is often German. You don't get the sense that a great directing career is being launched, but Dance certainly knows enough to create a solid, genteel English movie rife with muffled suffering and acted to the nines.
Another Dance for two dames Lawrie Zion -- The Australian Online News March 23, 2005 FOUR years ago, while he was appearing in the Australian courtroom drama Black and White, British actor Charles Dance finally knuckled down to writing the screenplay for what would be his first turn behind the camera. Although the aristocratic-looking Dance, 58, has rarely been off the screen since playing Guy Perron in the much-loved miniseries The Jewel in the Crown in 1984, he had long dreamed of directing. And for his directorial debut he has been able to coax two of Britain's best-known actors to be his stars. The result is Ladies in Lavender, in which spinster siblings Ursula (Judi Dench) and Janet (Maggie Smith) befriend a stranger washed up on the Cornish coast in 1936. The young man, it turns out, is a Polish Jewish violinist called Andrea (Goodbye Lenin! star Daniel Bruhl). He speaks no English, which means that everyone has to try to make do with German. Based on a short story by William J. Locke that Dance discovered while browsing in a bookstore in Budapest, Ladies in Lavender sounds like a slight confection. But Dance wasn't put off by the idea that it might come across as old-fashioned. "It's a very simple story; it's contained and I like its fairytale qualities," he says on the phone from his home in London. "If you only watched mainstream cinema, you'd end up believing that every film was made only for 15 to 21-year-olds." Dance also brings a welcome tone of understatement to the drama, especially in the scenes where Dench's Ursula realises that she is developing strong feelings for her much younger lodger. As he puts it: "It's the dilemma of a 60-year-old woman who has never been in love and is a virgin; that's not something you see very often." While Dance says the screenplay was deliberately underwritten - "Life is full of ambiguity and unanswered questions, which can make cinema executives very uncomfortable" - not everything in Ladies in Lavender is as subtle as it might have been. When Andre meets and befriends another stray European called Olga (Natasha McElhone), the story temporarily sinks under the weight of its contrivances. But the appeal of the Dench-Smith double act is more than adequate compensation for any shortcomings. The great dames of British acting have previously appeared on screen together in Franco Zeffirelli's Tea With Mussolini in 1999. Dance has known both women for many years and recently played alongside Smith in Gosford Park. Dance says Dench and Smith share many qualities as actors. "They are both very un-grand," he says. "They don't bring an entourage on to the set. They tend to forget that they are both 70, they begin work at 6.30 in the morning without making any fuss. And in the end I didn't really have to direct either of them." This doesn't mean, however, that their personalities are alike. I have heard that Smith can be a "difficult person" and Dance, in his understated way, doesn't deny it. "Judi is more outgoing," he says. "She has a quality that makes you want to hug her. But one is just a little wary of Maggie. She can be difficult because things affect Maggie much more. You never know whether Judi is not feeling great that day, but with Maggie it kind of shows on her face and you know if she is tired or fed up or not happy. There is an element of danger with Maggie Smith; she's a much more complex character." Whatever Smith's quirks, Dance insists that her inability to conceal her feelings is an admirable quality. "I think it's what makes her such a great actress," he says. And Ladies in Lavender, he argues, has given her a chance to show "a quality of vulnerability that she rarely gets to demonstrate". Dance has also been busy as an actor. Since his last big-screen role in Francois Ozon's enigmatic Swimming Pool, in which he played Charlotte Rampling's book publisher, he has made several appearances in television dramas and is about to play Tulkington in a 16-part BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens's Bleak House. Some of his best work has been in Fred Schepisi's Plenty, opposite Meryl Streep, and in the adaptation of James Fox's novel White Mischief, in which he played murdered playboy Josslyn Hay. There have been some duds, too: The Last Action Hero and Ali G InDaHouse. "Because it's a deeply insecure profession, there will be times when a decision to do a film will be determined by what I'm going to get paid," he admits. He laughs when asked if he's referring to the aforementioned pair of turkeys. "That's for you to determine," he says. Dance, who produced Ladies in Lavender without the backing of a big studio, would like to direct more films but is still looking for a suitable project. "Because I went to art school and not film school, I think I have a well-designed aesthetic sense and I don't think I bit off more than I could chew with Ladies in Lavender," he says. "But I'm under no illusions of the difficulties of getting things off the ground."
Thanks to Betty B, USA, for bringing this to my attention
The Miami Herald (Feb. 10 '05) Nothing like two dames to warm the heart The following review was written by Herald Movie Critic Marta Barber (MB). LADIES IN LAVENDER Watching Maggie Smith and Judi Dench in a film is a treat. Put the two Dames of the British Empire living in a lovely country cottage in a quaint town in the green English coastline of Cornwall during the still relatively peaceful year of 1936, and you can almost bet you will wind up with an endearing film. The ladies in this Charles Dance film, based on a short story by William J. Locke, are two aging sisters whose lives are shaken by the sudden intrusion of a young castaway. The widowed Janet (a stoic Smith) acts like a caring mother to Andrea (Daniel Bruhl), the man washed up by the sea. Ursula (the commanding Dench) develops a possessive attitude toward Andrea. ''I saw him first,'' she tells Janet, as if he were all hers to keep. After much nursing and nurturing, the women find out that Andrea is an accomplished violinist. With a fiddle lent to him by a neighbor, Andrea plays around the town. Though intrinsically suspicious of outsiders, the townspeople warm up to Andrea through his music. But another stranger, the beautiful Olga, is on a sojourn to do some painting by the seaside. Sister of a world famous violinist, she intends to bring the prodigy to the attention of her brother, which means taking him away from the sisters. Ladies in Lavender doesn't stretch beyond the typical, period drama the Brits do so well. It is no more than a warm cup of tea on a chilly afternoon. The reward comes in seeing these two great actresses at work. There's a scene in which Dench, afflicted by the discovery of her feelings toward the young man, turns to Smith and with a broken voice says, ''Oh, Janet.'' Her pain is almost worth the price of admission. -- MB
Thanks to Marla C, USA, for sending this to me
A Special Thank You to Diane P, UK, for scanning and sending this
Ladies in Lavender -- Music from the Movies -- November 19, 2004 Reviewed by: Andrew Keech Charles Dance’s directorial debut, Ladies In Lavender was given a boost by being chosen for the 2004 Royal film performance. Set in 1931, it tells of two spinster sisters living in a Cornish fishing village (played by Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith) whose lives are lifted from their everyday humdrum when they find a young, handsome Polish castaway (played by Daniel Bruhl) washed up on the beach. The film comes with a beautiful, classical score from Nigel Hess, a versatile and well-known composer whose work over the past twenty years has mainly centred on television and the theatre (he has been Music Director and House Composer for the Royal Shakespeare Company). Among his many high profile projects have been music for the Michael Gambon version of Maigret, Dangerfield, Vanity Fair, A Woman Of Substance, Campion and the Ivor Novello Award-winning Testament and Hetty Wainthropp Investigates. His score for Ladies In Lavender is classical in nature and in the main written for the violin. This is driven by Daniel Bruhl’s character, Andrea, who is an accomplished violinist and hence the score becomes an important and integral part of the story as well as giving the composer the opportunity to write some gorgeous set pieces. The score was recorded using the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with the violin solos lovingly caressed by the celebrated virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell. The opening cue, ‘Ladies In Lavender’ is a magical, haunting violin solo with a sympathetic orchestral and harp backing that ebbs and flows towards an intense climax. After such a delightful start it would be normal by modern standards to expect the rest of the score to be a disappointment, but Nigel Hess’s score produces exquisite music track after track. ‘Olga’ contains flourishes reminiscent of gypsy violin music that make the music personal and familiar while ‘Teaching Andrea’ begins with a melancholy oboe theme that is smoothly echoed by the haunting violin of Joshua Bell. One of the scores most moving and mesmerizing tracks is ‘Fantasy For Violin And Orchestra’; a complex interaction between the solo violin and orchestra that produces stunning music. Other cues, like ‘A Broken Heart’, ‘Two Sisters’ and ‘The Letter’, are simply beautiful pieces of music that express deep, poignant warmth. The score also contains a few classic standards that serve to confirm Joshua Bell’s utter mastery of his instrument; these include Jules Massenet’s heart-rending ‘Meditation from Thais’, Fabio de Sarasate’s delicate ‘Introduction and Tarantella Op.43’, Claude Debussy’s wistful ‘Girl With The Flaxen Hair’ and Niccolo Paganini’s captivating ‘The Carnival Of Venice’ along with a Polish dance, ‘Zabawa Weselna’, a fast manic piece somewhat at odds with the calm and serenity of the rest of the score. Nigel Hess’s music is complemented well by the chosen classical cues and the score is bound together tightly by Joshua Bell’s sensitive performance and the composer’s wonderfully expressive music. This is music that can be thoroughly enjoyed away from the silver screen by anyone that likes their scores serious and romantic, with a classical bias.
When Andrea, a handsome young Polish-Jewish violinist, is washed ashore in a close-knit Cornish community in 1936, spinster sisters Ursula and Janet Widdington (Judi Dench and Maggie Smith) take him under their wing and the stage is set for jealous rivalries, dark political paranoia and ultimately crushing heartbreak. There is nothing like a Dame? Try two of them - acting each other off the screen in Charles Dance's phenomenally acted, exquisitely scored, and ultimately moving Ladies In Lavender. Given the cast and crew, this could have been the luvvie-fest to end them all; unbearably sentimental, hopelessly parochial and utterly self-indulgent. The fact that actor-turned-debut director Dance has produced a film of this calibre is nothing less than a minor modern miracle of British Cinema, not to mention a testament to the continued greatness of its leading Dames. Based on a short story by William J Lock (and "liberated" from a Budapest set-dressing room by an entranced Dance), the film conjures up a by-gone age and its residents so perfectly you find yourself rooting for the most unlikely of characters, their relationships and their all-too-human foibles throughout. "NOTHING LESS THAN A MINOR MODERN MIRACLE OF BRITISH CINEMA" It’s an unusual kind of love story, and one that acknowledges love is as cruel and horribly unfair as it is kind and selfless. As the lovesick Ursula, Dench is a marvel as the living embodiment of the Yeats' line, 'tread softly, because you tread on her dreams'. Smith meanwhile - as laconic and bitter-sweet as ever (this actress seems to speak entirely in italics) - provides her perfect foil, as their protégé (Brühl) slips further away. The closing shot, in which Ursula finally relinquishes her love for Andrea through the transcendent power of his music is actually worth the admission price alone. Ladies In Lavender holds you in a gentle but compelling grip till the finish.
30s drama is heaven scent Hampstead and Highgate Express Online Review -- November 12, 2004 Director: Charles Dance Hampstead and Highgate Express Online Review -- November 12, 2004 Starring: Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Daniel Bruhl Ladies in Lavender tells the tale of two spinsters whose lives are turned upside down by the unexpected arrival of a young man. Nineteen-thirty-six, nostalgia, Cornwall, the sea, kindness, infatuation, despair, success, and superlative acting by Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. This beautifully photographed film takes us back to a lost world, perhaps to a better world than ever existed. It is based on a short story by William J Locke and is written and directed by Charles Dance. Andrea (Daniel Bruhl), a young Pole, is washed up on the shore in a state of exhaustion and with a broken ankle. He is taken to their isolated cottage by two old sisters, Ursula (Judi Dench) and Janet (Maggie Smith). Spinsters both, they have lived together all their lives, in mutual affection, but, inevitably, bickering a little. Janet is a bit sharp, something of the monitor, Ursula more of a romantic. They are genteel in the nicest way and have a maid-of-all-work (very well played by Miriam Margolis) who is of much more earthy stock. The three women look after the young man, fuss over him. As his ankle heals slowly, both woman Ursula and Janet become absorbed by the boy, and at first compete to look after him. So, for example, when Ursula starts to teach him English, she is maddened by Janet who insists on talking to him in rudimentary German. And then Ursula, who must be about 70 and has never had a boyfriend, totally and utterly loses her under-used heart to this very young man. She obviously wants time to stand still and for him to stay in their cottage for ever. From then on, it is Judi Dench's film. An idyll such as this is inherently unstable and, sure enough, a threat from outside arrives in the shape of beautiful young Olga (Natascha McElhone ) who stalks Andrea and - well I won't spoil the story. And it also serves to destabilise this cosy world that Andrea can play the violin and, not only that, can play it brilliantly. (Well, certainly Joshua Bell can, and his unseen virtuoso playing is integral to the film.) The acting of Dench and Smith is beyond all praise. They establish quite different characters strongly and with endless nuances of feeling and reaction. After a short time, you do not think, 'This is Judi Dench, playing Ursula', rather that you are looking at Ursula and feeling for her. (Bring a small handkerchief.) Andrea is well acted as a fine, open, happy, pleasant boy, who is totally unaware of the emotional turmoil he is causing. The cinematography is exceptional, thanks to Peter Biziou, and Dance and the production designer, Caroline Amies, worked hard on the colours - ochres, turquoises, dark bluey greens, greys that are not real grey, more silver, and dark blue in the sky. The colour tones are important in contributing to the work's pervading atmosphere. There is a predatory and foxy elderly doctor who is so over-the-top as to be straight out of pantomime and the yokels are so yokely that they remind one of those sketches by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. But, oddly, these things only contribute to the general joy and warmth of the piece. Ladies in Lavender is a gem of a film. Amazingly for such an assured piece of work, it is Charles Dance's debut as a director. He is to be congratulated. Something nice happened ... By Rex Reed -- September 23, 2004 Near the end of the 29th Toronto International Film Festival, after the unveiling of 328 movies in 10 days dedicated to sex, depression, incest, animal mutilation, war, suicide, sex, child abuse, divorce, vampires, more sex and what my aunt Charley Lorean Calhoun Smith used to call "puttin' on airs," something nice happened ... So how can I describe to you the unexpected joy I suddenly felt when two of England's grandest "Dames" came waltzing to the rescue? I am talking about Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith, in Ladies in Lavender, a warm and literate film written and directed by the actor Charles Dance that I found to be the perfect antidote to all the pretentious drivel that preceded it. A film with this kind of charm and sweetness and class may not be the usual fare in a cinematic marathon dedicated to numbing the brain and deadening the senses, but every film festival should have one. Ladies in Lavender showcases these two snow-thatched icons as elderly sisters on the coast of Cornwall whose dull lives are interrupted by a shipwrecked Polish sailor who washes up on the beach below their cliff side back to life, he rekindles old sibling rivalries, jealousies and unfulfilled dreams of love and marriage in the practical sister who lost her husband in World War I (Maggie Smith). The spinster sister (played with childlike grace by Judi Dench) develops an affection for their wounded guest that is far from maternal. As the foreigner learns to speak crude English, they learn that he isn't a sailor at all, but a skillful violinist. The film takes place during the time just before World War II, when foreign accents were regarded with suspicion and even fear in rural England; the boy comes dangerously close to problems with the stern local constable, until his musical skills enchant the villagers and attract the aid of a music lover (Natascha McElhone) who whisks him off to London for an audition without even saying goodbye. The sisters, who have come to regard him as both a brother and a son, are brokenhearted when he doesn't return, but when the boy makes his debut with a radio orchestra on the wireless radio, who should be sitting in the concert hall but the women who saved his life. By the time the music swells (courtesy of exquisite violin solos by Joshua Bell), so do the tears in the eyes of everyone in the audience who can still find a pulse beat. Ladies in Lavender is the kind of small, touching, skillfully made filmed short story one rarely discovers these days, and I hope American moviegoers get an opportunity to discover it soon for themselves. Neither of the Dames showed up in Toronto, which was probably wise. It's doubtful that any of the paparazzi would have known who they were ...
Film Review -- Ladies in Lavender By Michael Rechtshaffen -- Reuters -- September 19, 2004 TORONTO (Hollywood Reporter) - There is nothing like a couple of dames -- especially when the ladies in question happen to be the divine Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith. So estimable are their talents that they could turn a reading of stock quotations into a major theatrical event. Fortunately they've been given something much more substantial to chew on with "Ladies in Lavender." A period piece based on a short story by a lesser-known English writer named William J. Locke, the handsomely crafted portrait of a pair of sisters whose peaceful, meticulously orchestrated lives are seriously affected by the arrival of a young houseguest, marks the feature directorial and screenwriting debut of veteran actor Charles Dance. Looking to land a distributor after its Toronto screenings, the picture would definitely find favor with the "Enchanted April" set and students of exemplary acting. Set in a tightly knit Cornish fishing village in the mid-'30s, the character-driven piece centers on the relationship between sisters Janet (Smith) and Ursula (Dench) Waddington, who live in an immaculate little cottage, tended to by their no-nonsense housekeeper, Dorcas (the equally irrepressible Miriam Margolyes). Janet's a widow and Ursula's a spinster, and they've acquired the time-honed rhythm of an old married couple. That rhythm is about to be jarred out of sync when the semi-conscious body of a young man ("Good bye, Lenin!'s" Daniel Bruhl) washes up on shore after a violent storm. Unable to speak English, the mystery man is cared for by the two sisters, who eventually discover that he's a Polish castaway named Andrea who was headed for America in search of a better life. But even with the inevitable language barrier, Andrea's presence has a profound effect on the infatuated Ursula, opening up complicated, long locked-away feelings that go beyond maternal instincts. Jealousy will also rear its green-eyed head in the presence of a visiting artist who goes by the name of Olga Danilof (Natascha McElhone), whose presence, along with that of Andrea, stirs up a little pre-war xenophobia in the closely guarded community. It is to Dance's considerable credit that he never lets the filmmaking overtake the understated storytelling. Instead, the fine cinematography (by Alan Parker collaborator Peter Biziou), production design (Caroline Amies) and score (Nigel Hess) serve as grace notes to those perfectly rendered performances. Lakeshore International Presents a UK Film Council and Baker Street presentation in association with Future Films and Paradigm Hyde Films a Take Partnership production of a Scala Prods. film Cast: Ursula: Judi Dench; Janet: Maggie Smith; Dorcas: Miriam Margoyles; Andrea: Daniel Bruhl; Olga: Natascha McElhone; Doctor Mead: David Warner. Director-screenwriter: Charles Dance; Based on the short story by William J. Locke; Producers: Nicolas Brown, Elizabeth Karlsen, Nik Powell; Executive producers: Robert Jones, Emma Hayter, Bill Allan, Charles Dance; Director of photography: Peter Biziou; Production designer: Caroline Amies; Editor: Michael Parker; Costume designer: Barbara Kidd; Music: Nigel Hess.
Sat, Sep. 18, 2004 Hello Judi Dench, farewell Toronto By Christopher Kelly -- Star-Telegram Staff Writer The Toronto Film Festival wraps up tonight, but I'm on my way to the airport for an early exit. After eight days of four to five screenings a day, the only thing I can concentrate on is the long nap I'm going to take when I get home. But a couple of last-minute observations from the festival: Judi Dench gives another Oscar nomination-worthy performance in Ladies in Lavender, playing an aging spinster who develops a crush on a Polish teen-ager who washes ashore near her house; the Toronto subway system remains perhaps my favorite in the world; Mathieu Amalric, the star of the charming, if overlong French comedy/drama Kings and Queen, is the most wonderful and underrated actor you've never heard of; and, generally speaking, it was a tepid year here in Toronto, with lower star wattage and weaker movies than in previous years. Look for my full wrap-up on the festival in next Friday's Life and Arts section.
The Toronto Film Festival -- Sept 2004 The legendary talents of Dames Maggie Smith and Judi Dench are pitch perfect in Ladies in Lavender, the directorial debut of veteran actor Charles Dance. The duo shimmers in this intimate story, set on the craggy coast of Cornwall as the rumblings of a second war in Europe are heard in the distance. Elderly sisters Janet (Smith) and Ursula Widdington (Dench) live a quiet and inordinately tidy life in a lovely cottage. After a particularly violent storm, they awake to find a young man (Daniel Brühl, the charming lead from last year’s Good Bye, Lenin!), half-drowned and badly injured, on their beach. They take him in and discover he is Polish; his name is Andrea and he is a gifted violinist. The spinster sisters become quite fond of Andrea – indeed, Ursula, who has never really been in love before, is smitten and fusses over her charge like a giddy schoolgirl. Janet, who has some experience with matters of the heart, is more maternal in her feelings toward the boy. A great pleasure of Ladies in Lavender is watching the sisters’ otherwise uneventful lives veer off course when a male presence suddenly lands in their house. Even jealousy raises its head when a beautiful Russian woman (Natascha McElhone) vacationing nearby catches Andrea’s interest. Eventually, Janet and Ursula are faced with the choice of setting their charge free in the world or keeping him cosseted for themselves. The performances here are like a chamber concerto – every note is spot-on in pitch, overlaid with just the proper tinge of humour or gentle regret. Smith, as ever, can elicit bursts of laughter with nothing more than the arch of a long-suffering eyebrow, at the same time drawing us to her in the role of sensible, caring older sister. Dench, who has an uncanny ability to evoke mischief, curiosity and wistfulness simply by moving papers on a desk, is equally enthralling. In a world of strict rules regarding age, love and eroticism, Ladies in Lavender is a typhoon of fresh air – an irresistible, substantial and sparkling romance that declares the importance of taking risks for love. - Jane Schoettle
Shadows on the Wall Online Review With that title and those two grand dames in the lead roles, you think this'll be an annoyingly quaint British film about two old scene-chewers. But superb characters, excellent performances and a nicely understated filmmaking style combine to make it thoroughly satisfying and engaging. Ursula and Janet Widdington (Dench and Smith) are aging sisters enjoying their isolated life in 1930s Cornwall, but their idyll is jolted when a young man (Bruhl) is washed ashore near their home. While nursing him back to health, the ladies discover an affinity for young Andrea, a gifted Polish violinist on his way to America. But the village isn't used to visitors, and everyone's a bundle of suspicions, repressions and jealousies. Especially when Andrea develops a friendship with a visiting painter (McElhone). Cute without being precious, moving without being sentimental, this delicately balanced film really gets under our skin with characters who are never remotely simplistic. The soulful Ursula's growing crush on this young man is beautifully played by Dench. Smith brings a very different level of clinginess to the more proper Janet. And Bruhl's offhanded, charming rawness is reminiscent of Ewan McGregor. Around this trio, Margolyes has an eye-rolling ball as the ladies' irritable housekeeper, Warner is a bundle of conflicting emotions as the helpful-hopeful-vengeful local doctor, and McElhone is a lovely, floaty alien presence. Thankfully, not a single character goes where you expect them to. This is such an accomplished film that it's a surprise to find it written and directed by a first-timer: the actor Charles Dance. He draws out layers of humour and warmth then balances them with bitter doses of resentment and mistrust. Character interaction is often almost subliminal; these sisters have clearly lived together too long, yet they never boil over into hysterical movie-type behaviour (although they come close!). Similarly, the plot has a terrific sense of growing dread that never erupts into a contrived climax. Meanwhile, Dance establishes the gorgeous setting and period in lyrical ways that never prettify anything. It's a film about the dangers of either rejecting or grasping too tightly to whatever's new and unexplained. So very, very English.
Ladies in Lavender Geoffrey Macnab in London 18 June 2004 -- ScreenDaily Reviews Dir/scr: Charles Dance. UK. 2004. 108mins Charles Dance’s directorial debut is a stilted and old-fashioned romantic drama which would be heavy as suet were it not for the deft and lively performances of its two Dames, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. In recreating 1930s Cornwall, Dance throws in all the elements associated with British heritage cinema - picture postcard imagery of the landscapes lovingly lensed by Peter Biziou, kind hearted yokels in tweed, barn dances and ye olde worlde pubs - but the detailed production design and picturesque cinematography can’t help but seem like padding for a story curiously lacking in any real oomph or invention. Despite the innate creakiness of the piece, box-office prospects seem reasonable. With a vigorous marketing campaign, the film has a fair chance of reaching the upscale, older audiences who flocked in such numbers to Gosford Park in the UK. The combination of Dench and Smith, fast turning into contemporary British cinema’s answer to Edith Evans and Sybil Thorndike, ought to ensure plenty of local media curiosity. The international profile of Daniel Bruhl, star of Good Bye, Lenin! and The Edukators, will be boosted by what might loosely be described as Bruhl’s first English-language role. (In fact, one of the key plot points is that Bruhl speaks very few words of English.) The film premiered at Taormina. It’s the summer of 1936. Action begins with lonely spinster sisters Janet and Ursula Waddington (Smith and Dench) tramping noisily across the shingle beach. (The sound editing is not especially subtle and nor is the lachrymose piano music that swells the soundtrack.) They spot a body washed up on the beach. This is Andrea Markowski (Bruhl), a young Pole on his way from Europe to America to build a new life for himself in New York. Narrative exposition is on the hazy side. It’s never made quite clear how or why this strapping young Eastern European happens to have landed. half-dead, on this particular stretch of sleepy Cornish coast. Without telling the authorities, the two elderly maids take Andrea into their home and nurse him back to health. Both fret over him. He not only brings out the sisters’ maternal sides - he stirs up unholy erotic passions in their breasts. As she showed way back in her Miss Jean Brodie days and as she recently underlined in Gosford Park, Smith is a tremendous comic actress who knows just when to wrinkle her nose in disdain or to hold a comic pause. Dench, too, is a formidable performer who somehow squeezes out both the pathos and the comedy out her lovelorn character’s plight here. But the stereotypes still grate. It’s a commonplace of a certain kind of period British films that working-class characters will be grotesquely caricatured. That’s certainly the case with the sisters’ maid, a blustering busybody played in very broad fashion by Miriam Margoyles. Despite the lively Hinge and Brackett-like antics of Dench and Smith and the comic mugging by Margoyles, Ladies In Lavender very rapidly runs out of steam. The real problem is that nothing very much happens and nothing is at stake. Andrea gets better, plays the neighbour’s violin, learns a few words of English and meets the glamorous Olga Daniloff (Natasha McElhone making a brave stab at a German accent), and - all too predictably - provokes jealousy and resentment in some of the locals. Olga’s brother turns out to be a world-famous musician. Olga whisks Andrea off to London to meet him and the young Pole’s career as a lead violinist is instantly launched. Dance’s script is adapted from a short story of the same name by William J. Locke. One guesses that Locke’s fiction was heavy on nuance and suggestion, but the filmmakers fail to delve much beneath the surface. The press notes make reference to the anti-semitism from which Andrea is ostensibly fleeing, but this is not an issue touched on in the movie. War is brewing and various sly digs are made at the Germans. We’re given fitful hints that the villagers aren’t quite as friendly as they seem and that it wouldn’t take much to provoke them into violence. This, however, is too cosy and upbeat a film to delve into such territory. The occasional formal flourish aside (for instance, the slow zoom on Bruhl’s face the first time he is spotted on the beach), Dance’s direction is on the conservative side. His main goal is clearly to give a platform to his actors. They don’t let him down, but the script does. Despite the star turns from Smith and Dench, this is ultimately very tepid fare. Prod cos: Scala Prods Int’l sales: Lakeshore Entertainment UK dist: Entertainment Exec prods: Robert Jones, Bill Allan, Emma Hayter, Charles Dance Prods: Nik Powell, Nicolas Brown, Elizaveth Karlsen Cine: Peter Biziou Ed: Michael Parker Prod des: Caroline Amies Music: Nigel Hess Main cast: Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Daniel Bruhl, Miriam Margolyes, Natascha McElhone, David Warner
Daily Variety June 17, 2004, Thursday Ladies in Lavender BY: JAY WEISSBERG A Tale Partnerships presentation of a Scala Prod., Lakeshore Entertainment production. (International sales: Lakeshore Entertainment, London.) Produced by Nik Powell, Nicolas Brown, Elizabeth Karlsen. Executive producers, Robert Jones, Bill Allan, Emma Hayter, Charles Dance. Directed, written by Charles Dance, based on a short story by William J. Locke. Camera (Technicolor), Peter Biziou; editor, Michael Parker; music, Nigel Hess (solo violin, Joshua Bell); production designer, Caroline Amies; art director, David Hindle; costume designer, Barbara Kidd; sound (Dolby Digital), Jim Greenhorn; associate producer, Ian Prior; casting, Sarah Bird. Reviewed at Taormina Film Festival, June 14, 2004. Running time: 103 MIN. Ursula Widdington .... Judi Dench Janet Widdington .... Maggie Smith Andrea Marowski .... Daniel Bruhl Dorcas .... Miriam Margolyes Olga Danilof .... Natascha McElhone Dr. Francis Mead .... David Warner With: Freddie Jones, Clive Russell, Toby Jones, Jack Callow, Gregor Henderson-Begg, Tom Hill, Ian Marshall, Scott Hinds. (English & German dialogue) In "Ladies in Lavender," master pros Maggie Smith and Judi Dench simply do what they do best, without coasting on feel-good stereotypes. British actor Charles Dance, making his directorial bow, shows an assured hand which foregoes stylistic flourishes for a thesp-centered portrayal of two spinster sisters and the emotions unleashed by the appearance of a foreigner on their patch in rural England. Though distribs may have difficulty selling this one to the under-25s, pic is a given seat-filler for upscale, older auds on both sides of the Pond, not only for its surefire cast but as a worthy crowdpleaser. Dance moves the period of William J. Locke's short story from Edwardian times to 1936, thereby taking advantage, in a light-handed but meaningful way, of the residues of WWI and the approaching conflagration of WWII. He's also parted company with some of the original's background material, allowing the characters to develop their own lives rather than be hedged in by historical indicators. In coastal Cornwall, southwest England, sisters Ursula (Dench) and Janet Widdington (Smith) lead the kind of old-fashioned, upper-bourgeois existence beloved by PBS viewers. They're financially prudent and home-loving folk, comfortable in their quiet village life. Ursula is the dreamy one, still retaining a child's sense of fun; gently protective, older sis Janet is the practical one. In contrast, housekeeper Dorcas (Miriam Margolyes) has a no-nonsense, working-class wryness. After a fierce storm, a body washes up in view of the Widdington manse. Miraculously alive and with little more than a broken ankle to show for the ordeal, the mysterious stranger is brought inside by the sisters, who minister to his wounds. His name is Andrea (German star-of-the-moment Daniel Bruhl), a native Pole with a whiff of melancholy and no English. Janet breaks out her old German primer and relishes her ability to communicate with the grateful young man. Meanwhile, Ursula hovers around Andrea, extra-attentive to his needs and resentful whenever her sister gets to him first. During a small argument, Ursula accuses Janet of insensitivity and, in a perfect example of Smith's capacity to load meaning into the slightest phrase, she half mumbles "on the contrary." The three simple words are filled with a depth natural to people who know each other's secrets, and their own, intimately. Andrea turns out to be a violin virtuoso, and the sisters borrow an instrument from the village fiddler. Visiting painter Olga Danilof (Natascha McElhone) overhears the luscious sounds coming from the house and loudly shouts her appreciation from the road, but the sisters disapprove of this beautiful, young stranger. Undiscouraged, Olga writes a letter to the sisters telling them that her brother, world-famous violinist Boris Danilof, would love to hear their talented guest. Her forwardness, combined with her fluent German, prove a threat to the ladies, and they withhold the letter's contents from their guest. As Andrea's mobility increases, Ursula's solicitous behavior takes on a new sense of contained desperation. It's here that Dance especially scores as a director: A film that acknowledges the sexual longings of an older woman is uncommon enough, but one that portrays those feelings as something other than improper or sordid is especially rare. Dench almost wordlessly captures the conflicting feelings welling up inside Ursula. To the accompaniment of the classic WWI tune, "Roses of Picardy," she fantasizes her younger self locked in an embrace with Andrea. Dance has an actor's understanding of how to showcase his cast, and in Dench and Smith he has the perfect models. Dench is perfectly paired with Smith, who's peerless at impregnating meaning into the most meager of lines, here done with poignancy and warmth. Dance isn't afraid to hold the camera on a face, trusting in his performers' physical skills. Pic is full of delightful moments that throw into high relief the actors' craft, such as Margolyes' look of amusement and triumph after flushing the contents of a chamber pot. Only one performer gets little to work with, and that's McElhone. Her foreign-flavored accent is a little too unplaceable, and her character, superior and independent with a bit of cock tease, serves mostly to arouse the sisters' jealousy. Film delivers a sense of period without overloading on design details, and news of the outside world filters through in snippets heard on the radio. Sole misstep is a late-on flashback that veers into more facile sentimentality. Golden lensing by Peter Biziou is reinforced by lighting that takes full advantage of Cornwall's late-summer sun. Composer Nigel Hess does a first-rate job with an orchestral concert that highlights Andrea's Heifetz-like talent.
The Evening Standard (London) June 17, 2004 ACTING THE DIRECTOR BY SHEILA JOHNSTON Charles Dance narrows his startling green-blue cat's eyes against the sunset and squints down at the bay of Taormina sprawling lazily below. This Sicilian film festival, now in its 50th year, is one of the smaller ones; not Cannes by a long chalk. But the Greek amphitheatre perched on the steep crag dominating the bay was not a bad backdrop for the world premiere of Ladies in Lavender, Dance's maiden effort as a director, on Monday night. 'It's a small film, a chamber film,' he says. 'It couldn't take too much hype. In Cannes it would have got buried under a welter of other stuff. And to have it screened here in that magnificent amphitheatre - all we need now is for the bloody volcano to erupt.' That happened when Apocalypse Now Redux was screened in Taormina two years ago. On Monday, Mount Etna contented itself with a few mild puffs of smoke. But they were white, and so can reasonably be taken as a sign of approval. The 'ladies in lavender' are two sedate spinsters living in Cornwall in the Thirties who rescue a handsome young man washed up on the beach. They take him in and the younger sister falls helplessly in love for the first, and probably the last, time in her life. It is a bittersweet, delicate character piece, with a touch of Merchant-Ivory to it: a little too long, but handsomely presented and, as so often with films by actor-directors, a showcase for a roster of fine performances. Dance, 57, always wanted to direct, but came across the idea quite by chance. 'I was on a film called Jurij, in Budapest a couple of years ago, waiting for the cinematographer to finish the lighting. There were a load of books as dressing on the set and one was a collection of short stories called Faraway Stories by William J Locke.' Dance had never heard of this obscure writer, but liked the tales' fairytale quality. 'So I liberated the book from the set and, about a year later, I read it again and there was something about Ladies in Lavender that made me think, 'This is not too ambitious.' I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew.' The film, which, according to co-producer Nik Powell, cost just GBP 4 million, will be released in the UK in October. It has a good supporting cast: Daniel Bruehl, from Goodbye Lenin! as the castaway, Freddie Jones, David Warner, Miriam Margolyes and Natascha McElhone. But its one huge asset is the presence of two grandes dames of British acting, Maggie Smith and Judi Dench, in the leading roles. Dench, also in Taormina to receive a lifetime achievement award, takes up the story: 'Maggie and I go back a long, long time, to the Old Vic in 1958, when we were in several plays and shared a dressing room,' she says. 'We weren't particularly close friends at that time. Then there was a long pause. We worked together on A Room With a View 1985 , and then again on Tea with Mussolini 1999 . It was about a year after Maggie's husband had died and she and I spent a lot of time just walking about Rome and Florence.' The actresses were reunited for the 2002 West End production of David Hare's play, Breath of Life. 'My own husband had died the year before. I don't mean to sound sentimental, but it made a great bond between us. 'It was like a path that somebody has trodden before you and now we're very close friends. You form a shorthand when you know somebody frightfully well. It's more pleasurable working together because there are many things you don't need to say.' Dance cared little that both actresses are 69, more than two decades older than Locke's characters. 'They have a kind of eternal youth about them, those two ladies. 'When I read the story, I just thought of them. I don't know what I would have done if either had said no.' It would be difficult, he admits, to find two British actresses in their forties who are as bankable. 'Anyway, the exact ages doesn't matter. It's about older people experiencing emotions that mainstream film-makers assume can only be experienced by 15 to 21-year-olds. 'Why shouldn't a woman in her sixties fall in love for the first time in her life? And what if her sister is somebody who has already been through that? 'There were lots of women in the First World War whose fiances were sent to the front and got killed. For many, that was the one love of their lives. They couldn't contemplate any other romantic relationship at all. It was something that was cherished and hung on to, and you were glad that it happened. 'So when this woman sees her sister falling in love, she feels protective because she knows how painful it is going to be, but she doesn't want to deprive her of it. 'The whole business of falling in love, as we all know, puts your pulse rate up, makes you feel ill and you feel deliriously happy. To go through life and not ever experience that would be pretty awful.' Tall, elegant and assertive, Dance is still best known for what he calls the 'suave and debonair' romantic leading roles in such films as White Mischief or television's Jewel in the Crown. But his air of authority has lead him to be cast several times as famous film directors: he has played both D W Griffith and Robert Flaherty. 'I was amazed to find that Charles, who had not made a film before, was incredibly precise,' says Dench. 'He was not rigid, but he never seemed not to know what he wanted.' Much has been said about ageism in the film industry, where roles for older actresses are supposedly hard to come by. But, although Dame Judi's screen career took off late, it now seems to be booming. In September she starts shooting Stephen Frears's Mrs Henderson Presents, about the redoubtable woman who founded a long-running nude review show at London's Windmill Theatre in 1932. Next spring, she will play M for the fifth time in the new James Bond film. 'It was a complete departure and a huge responsibility to have a woman playing M. 'I didn't realise that I would be so noticed, but my husband was always very keen that I should be a Bond girl! Then Vin Diesel asked me if I would be in the Chronicles of Riddick, as an intergalactic ambassador. 'I hadn't been one of those yet so I thought I would have a go. When I get to 80, hopefully there will be a lot of parts for very old people on Zimmer frames. But then, how lucky to suddenly have a film career and how lucky to be here.' Dressed in white, Dance still cuts a dashing figure. But he knows the heart-throb roles are now behind him. 'I'm past my prime,' he sighs self-mockingly. 'The world is full of Jude Laws and Ewan McGregors and Daniel Bruehls.' It is also, I remark, full of Sean Connerys and Jack Nicholsons and Clint Eastwoods. 'There are not many people with Nicholson's clout,' he counters. He resisted the temptation to create a juicy part for himself in Ladies in Lavender, although his manicured tones can be briefly heard reading the shipping forecast on the wireless. 'I'm not a megalomaniac,' he says. 'But I might have to write myself a decent part because, the older you get as an actor, the more the work thins out. 'If, in a couple of years, someone came along with a role like the one Dirk Bogarde plays in Death in Venice and didn't offer it to me, I would be very angry. 'I've got a couple of ideas for scripts buzzing around in my head - nothing that I care to talk about at the moment. 'But I hope I haven't shot myself in the foot with this film because I love acting. I don't want to stop acting. I'd like to do the two things side by side. I'm working in Rome at the moment on a biopic for Italian television about Don Bosco, who was a kind of turn-of-the-century Dr Barnardo. 'I play the Prefect of Turin, who was not a very pleasant man. But,' he adds, brightening briefly, 'I do have quite a nice death from cholera.'
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