Featured Film Review
'Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont' Directed by Dan Ireland © (2005) Starring Joan Plowright and Rupert Friend
Mrs. Palfrey (Joan Plowright), a widow with visions of gentility and culture, has moved to London to live by the month at the Claremont Hotel. The image in her mind of this hotel is more grand by far than the reality of the place with it's sputtering neon sign and drab, threadbare trappings. Much like the people staying there, nothing at the Claremont works quite like it used to. Mrs. Palfrey soon finds herself under the intense and interested scrutiny of her fellow "inmates". From Mrs. Arbothnot's (Anna Massey) Queen Bee intensity verbally spanking fellow residents for speaking out of turn to Mr. Osborne's (Robert Lang) desperation to marry again as a remedy for loneliness, Mrs. Palfrey finds herself turning down invitations to watch "Sex in the City" re-runs with hopes that she will be visited frequently by her grandson, Desmond (Lorcan O'Toole).
After making several attempts to contact her grandson, Mrs. Palfrey writes her daughter (Anna Carteret) to subtly complain about Desmond's lack of response. En route to mail her letter, fate steps in and brings into Mrs. Palfrey's life a young man about her grandson's age. Enter Ludovic Meyer (Rupert Friend) more often called Ludo, the street musician and writer finds in Mrs. Palfrey a wealth of stories yet to be told and wisdom to be shared. He had never known his own grandmother and appreciates Mrs. Palfrey from the first. The realization of just how lonely she's been, especially at the Claremont where her fellow residents have started calling her grandson, Desmond, her mythic grandson, she invites Ludo to dine with her at the Claremont to shut them up. Their friendship blossoms in spite of the occasional bursts of tense, snarky visits from the real Desmond and his mother and Mrs. Palfrey finds herself closer and closer to Ludo. Where some assume it's a "Harold and Maude", the truth of the matter is that Ludo and Mrs. Palfrey find in each other what others so often take for granted and they revel in this newfound family they have in each other.
I have to say, I loved this movie. Sometimes a reminder of what we take for granted is needed to truly appreciate the people in our lives. Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont was at once heartbreaking and heartwarming. It also inspired and I hope it does the same for others...... that said, do *not* watch this film if you're in the mood for typical Hollywood chases and explosions - you'll get all heart from this film but nothing in the way of "thriller". And yet I was thrilled....
I give it 4 1/2 cauldrons out of 5
Reviewer: Cerr