My Old Lady (2014) Reviews

• My Old Lady is a Treasure...

  grammykathy019232014-10-03

  I went to see this movie as I am a huge fan of Maggie Smith & she is delightful in the film. However the true star of the film is Kevin Kline. I thought that his performance was one of his best ever in a movie. Also wonderful in this film is Kristin Scott Thomas. Her performance is subtle & moving. And the fact that it is filmed in Paris is just a wonderful bonus. I found the storyline to be complex & makes one think of life's choices made along the way. I realize that this Israel Horowitz's first directorial film & I give him high marks for that reason. It is based on a play that he wrote & he also did the screenplay. He is in his early seventies. What a treat!!!

• Beautiful film of a delightful story ideal for an older audience.

  glasslens2014-12-03

  This is a very simple film and because it is brilliantly cast and directed, the result is excellence. Simplicity is something we rarely see these days yet it is something we crave in these very complex times. There are really only three characters in this film and so the casting was paramount. It pretty much goes without saying that Maggie Smith in the lead role is just perfect - as she always is. By coincidence, I re-watched Grand Marigold Hotel the following evening, and saw her playing a totally different person with a totally different voice. That is a skill that few modern actors can manage well. More of a surprise to me was Kevin Kline. I remember him in manic roles - typecast or that's how he is I do not know, but in this film he gave a beautifully measured and emotional performance with only a few glimmers of the manic! Finally Kristin Scott-Thomas was just excellent as she always is. Rarely does an actress gently age so perfectly, and her performance could not have been faulted for a moment - just superb. Very well lit and photographed in what appeared to be quite confined spaces and with exteriors of Paris that just glowed with it's honey colour there is a visual treat here. And with very well-recorded sound, the film was a joy to watch. If your taste is for quality, quiet and thoughtful, for a well written screenplay based on an excellent story, with excellent actors, then this is a film you will thoroughly enjoy. It will definitely have more appeal to an over 50 or even over 60 audience - younger people will miss out on the subtleness and pathos and not appreciate this film. The one thing that I simply could not understand was the title of this film. In London-speak, my old lady means my mother! Too late to change now though! Enjoying a coffee in the café of the cinema, we got talking to an older couple sitting next to us. The man had come especially to see Kristin Scott-Thomas because his granddaughter had been the nanny to one of Kristin's children in Paris. It is a small world.

• Poignant and funny

  suzie-162014-09-26

  The whole film is shot in Paris and many of the scenes are simply drippingly gorgeous. It is a very charming movie, with some heavy undertones and one I will watch again. There's a good message in it. Loved Dominique Pinon as the real estate agent. Kristin Scott Thomas is so good, mixing up mean and nasty with tenderness and self-awareness. Maggie is a stitch and just superb! Kevin excellently portrays a man who is down and out, carrying around emotional baggage. Stéphane Freiss always seems to play a neurotic Frenchman, but he does frenzied well. Many times I laughed out loud in this movie! I've studied French my whole life, but learned a new word in this movie: viager. I am surprised critics have come down so hard on it. But, I am almost as old as Kevin Kline, I adore Paris, I love movies where you can laugh and still be brought to tears and ones that have a good message.

• Delightful surprise

  rogersfa2015-01-02

  Went to see this today based on the trailer, from which I thought it was a comedy. It is funny, but also serious and engaging. Liked it much more than I thought I would and would definitely recommend it. At the end I realized that I would want to watch it again to see the themes of relationship as I then understood them with hindsight. The three principal actors are all excellent in their roles and in their relationships with each other. It felt honest and not pretentious or 'preachy', but definitely deep and engaging. No one ends up the hero in this film, but that is often how real life often turns out.

• Past and Future

  aharmas2014-09-20

  "My Old Lady" is an interesting title for this story of the effects of giving and taking love. Kline plays Matthias, a broken and wounded 57 year old man who resents the past actions of his father. As the story unfolds, the characters and ourselves get to put the pieces together, and some of the facts are shocking. Others just make perfect sense. Throughout we are treated to some really good acting for what else can we expect from Kline, Smith, and Scott-Thomas? Kline comes to Paris to claim his inheritance. Instead he discovers he has inherited more than an apartment. He now discovers the place is inhabited by his father's former mistress and a woman who might or not be a relative. Kline has tried to keep his mental balance for a long time. He is a true survivor, faced pain, disappointment and had more than his chance of traumatic moments in his life. Mathias and Matilda rediscover the common points in their lives. The story progresses, and we see Mr. Gold has kept a few facts from everyone, crucial events that shaped the future destiny of all the children involved. It is a cathartic time, a moment to heal or face complete destruction. It's amazing to see how Smith is able to create characters that fully dimensional. She has played women in the late stages of their lives, from aristocratic and uptight to goofy and cantankerous. Here she's in a whole different universe, a woman who has lived a selfish existence and appears not ready to change. Has she always been that way, or has she also been a victim of circumstances? Scott-Thomas is her daughter, Chloe, a woman in her fifties, clinging on to self-destructive relationships, bitter, and combative, and barely attached to her mother, probably mostly from obligation than affection. We know her past is full of trauma, too, and we wonder why is it that her mother appears to have no concerns for her daughter's mental state. Enter Matthias, and their stable but emotional lives will change immediately, with change that is neither slow or immediate. It takes a while for every piece to fall into place, and the movie has both touching revelations, but at times recalls its theatrical source, and it feels a bit stilted. Not of this is the actors' fault because they give it their best, and it wouldn't be surprising if the substance abuse here leads to a few nominations in the near future. The movie will probably never be a crowd pleaser; it is more of a showcase for the talents of all those involved, and it delivers for the most part.