Mrs Palfrey At The Claremont

Synopsis:  Sarah Palfrey (Joan Plowright) is a genteel elderly widow who decides to leave Scotland for London where she can enjoy what a big city has to offer, and also be near her grandson Desmond. She takes up residence at the Claremont Hotel, only to find it far shabbier than she’d imagined, peopled by eccentric and lonely old fogies, and that Desmond makes no moves to get in touch with her. When she trips in the street, an aspiring young writer Ludo (Rupert Friend) comes to her rescue. When Mrs P. invites Ludo to dine with her, the residents take him for her grandson ans new and enduring friendship is forged along with an ongoing deception.

In many respects this is such an old-fashioned film but it is highly entertaining, in the old-fashioned sense of the word. The story is touching, the performances terrific, there’s plenty of gentle humour and many themes that touch all our lives are addressed. Director Dan Ireland cites his favourite films, such as Harold and Maude, as being those that “celebrate aging, loneliness, memories, friendship, compassion and the beauty of having lived a full life"and Mrs Palfrey At The Claremont stays true to that affirmative spirit.

Being born in 1929 means Plowright certainly has lived a full life with 65 film roles in more than 50 years. She is so quintessentially English and such a beautiful woman despite her advancing years. She plays Mrs P. with a wonderful mix of elegance, whimsicality, and youthful enthusiasm for life. Rupert Friend is charming as Ludo, an almost too-good-to-be-true young fellow who sees in Mrs P both the grandmother he never had, and even the sort of woman he wishes to meet, albeit in a younger incarnation. Zoe Tapper is also a delight as Gwendolyn, the lovely young woman Ludo eventually meets. Rounding out the cast as the other residents of the Claremont are such old troopers as Anna Massey (Mrs Arbuthnot), Michael Culkin (the piano player) and Robert Lang (Mr Osborne, who sets his cap at Mrs P.) There’s a terrifically amusing turn by Timothy Bateson as Summers, the barely articulate porter, who grunts and wheezes his way through the film. Some of these characters are just so impossibly British in an over-the-top way but somehow it all fits together in a very likeable fashion.

The heart of the film is the gentle friendship between the old woman and the young man. When he asks her to share with him, as a writer, what matters to her it is a very touching moment and, as their friendship deepens, you can see they would have been ideally matched, if not for the age difference. Nevertheless they are kindred souls, and prove that friendship is can surmount age barriers. At one point an ex-girlfriend suggests that Ludo may be “doing a Harold and Maude”. There is also clever use of references to the David Lean classic Brief Encounter, with a double role for it in the lives of Mrs P and her dear departed Arthur, and now in Ludo’s meeting with Gwendolyn.

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