"Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont": A little less loneliness in London
Like a cup of strong British tea with a sugar cube tossed in, Dan Ireland's "Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont" is at once sweet and bitter, a fairy-tale friendship in the context of an achingly lonely life.
Sarah Palfrey (Joan Plowright) is an elderly widow living in a London hotel, a respectable but faded-looking place where the gilt trim is starting to look a bit tinny. Her daughter is in Scotland and seems to have little interest in her; her grandson in London doesn't return her calls. Mrs. Palfrey keeps up a brave face, marching off for manufactured errands with a purposeful air, but she's terribly unhappy.
One windy day, she trips and falls on the leafy sidewalk — and up from a basement flat comes an angelically handsome young man. He's a would-be writer named Ludovic (Rupert Friend), and he's exactly what Mrs. Palfrey needs: a friend and a grandson. Soon Ludovic is posing as grandson Desmond for the benefit of the inquisitive Claremont residents. Her life now has a purpose — and so does his. Intrigued by her life, he begins to shape a novel about his new friend.
Screenwriter Ruth Sacks (a first-timer in her 80s), in transforming the 1970s novel by British author Elizabeth Taylor, has subtly but distinctly changed its tone. The book is more dryly humorous, with Ludovic's motivations a little less saintly and more ambiguous. (A passage in which he borrows money from Mrs. Palfrey does not appear in the film.)
Sacks and director Ireland (a former Seattleite who co-founded the Seattle International Film Festival) instead emphasize equal measures of whimsy and poignancy, and the result is a charming and often quite touching film — and a showcase for a beautiful performance by Plowright, who blooms like a flower in the camera's gaze.
With her sensible shoes, elegant attire and formal manners, Mrs. Palfrey is like a standard-bearer for an earlier era. (As she drinks a cup of tea in Ludovic's untidy flat, you can see in her eyes that something about the tea isn't right — and see just as clearly that she wouldn't dream of saying a word about it.)
But she often looks slightly worried; this woman knows too clearly that she's been left behind. There's no room in the bustling world for her and her elderly cohorts: Their offspring are too busy to spend much time with them; the city moves too speedily for them to hop aboard. So they sit, in a hotel that becomes a waiting room for the last years of life, patiently hoping to be noticed by those they brought into the world.
"Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont" stays bittersweet to the end, and it's a great tribute to Plowright and Friend that their implausible friendship (with its echoes of Harold and Maude) remains believable. It's a gentle story, about a time of life too often ignored on film, and its mood lingers with you afterward.
The film is dedicated to actor Robert Lang, who plays the role of one of the Claremont's few resident gentlemen and who died at age 70 shortly after the film was shot.
It's a poignant reminder of what Mrs. Palfrey describes as the lesson of her life: making the most of every moment, before our time here comes to an end.
Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com
"Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont," with Joan Plowright, Rupert Friend, Anna Massey, Georgina Hale, Millicent Martin, Clare Higgins, Zoe Tapper. Directed by Dan Ireland, from a screenplay by Ruth Sacks, based on the novel by Elizabeth Taylor. 108 minutes. Not rated; for mature audiences. Seven Gables. Ireland will introduce all evening shows tonight and Saturday, and will host a Q&A after each 7 p.m. show. For an interview with Ireland, check out Sunday's Entertainment & the Arts.