Review of Ladies in Lavender (2004) by Stuart K — 09 Feb 2014

The directorial debut of Charles Dance, who also wrote the film, adapted from a short story by William J. Locke, first published in 1908. This period drama is moved forwards to the 1930's, and it's a gentle piece with some lovely performances in it.

It's the kind of thing you'd get on TV on Sunday teatimes, but it manages to hold it's own as a piece of cinema, but only just. In 1936, in a small Cornish village by the coast, sisters Ursula (Judi Dench) and Janet Widdington (Maggie Smith) live quiet lives, but their lives change when they find Polish man Andrea (Daniel Brühl) washed up on the beach near their house.

Ursula and Janet take him in, and they nurse him back to health. They discover Andrea is a virtuoso violinist, and he shows off his talents to the local villagers, who accept him as one of their own. However, things change when holidaying artist Olga Daniloff (Natascha McElhone), whose brother is a famed violinist, hears Andrea play and promises him a better life, but Ursula and Janet can't let go of their guest.

It's a moving and well made drama which has some lovely Cornish locations, and some good performances by Dench and Smith as the sisters. Although the concept of the film might be a bit far fetched, it works well and Dance does well as writer and director, and he should give it another go.