Like the stranger, a gift of the sea, who affected an entire village in a magical way, Ladies in Lavender is a wonderful surprise for those who encounter it.
This film is full of surprises. It's surprising that such a slight plot can hold our interest, and when moments of laugh-out-loud humor come (Miriam Margolyes, who, like Smith, is another Hogwarts faculty member, is particularly hilarious), it's as surprising as when Andrea first washed up on shore. The concert-quality music is perhaps the best surprise. Renowned violinist Joshua Bell handles the solo performances for the film, including folk favorites and compositions by Felix Mendelssohn, Niccolo Paganini, Claude DeBussy, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Pablo de Sarasate. Orchestral performances are provided by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The soundtrack is available on CD.
It apparently takes a village to make a project like this. Pop in the DVD and you get Roadside Attractions and Lake Shore International logos followed by "UK Film Council and Baker Street present, in association with Future Films and Paradigm Hyde Films, a Take Partnerships production of a Scala Productions film." Whatever it takes to bring films like this to audiences, we can be grateful.
Video: "Ladies in Lavender" is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, and the picture quality is excellent. The exterior scenes of the village and coast, the insides of pubs and houses are clear and sharp no matter what the light level.
Audio: The soundtrack is English Dolby Digital 5.1, which superbly captures the folk and classical violin performances—especially those elusive high notes, and those moments when the violinist eases a note gradually into nothingness. Subtitles are in English.
Extras: The lone extra is a good one—a "making-of" featurette on "Ladies in Lavender: A Fairy Tale" in which behind-the-scenes stills augment talking heads interviews with Dench, Smith, and Dance. Like the film itself, there's a quiet weight to the things that are said, with Dench remarking that "I'm notorious for not reading scripts" and coming onboard simply when a director like Dance approaches her, pitches the concept, and tells her she can do it. And Smith? Good friends with Dench, she was onboard the minute she learned who her co-star would be. As to why Cornwall, we learn that partly it's the remoteness and isolation, but mostly it was the quality of light. "It's shimmering," Dance says. And certainly the location filming contributes greatly to the quiet magic of this understated film.
Bottom Line: In all respects, "Ladies in Lavender" is a modest little film that does everything well that it attempts. As Dench remarks, "it's like a fairy tale—a strand of something" rather than a fully-formed narrative with backstory, character arcs, and complex plotlines. If it suffers, it does so in the same way as perfect dives and skating routines in the Olympics that don't include a high degree of difficulty. But like the stranger, a gift of the sea, who affected an entire village in a magical way, "Ladies in Lavender" is a wonderful surprise for those who encounter it.
It apparently takes a village to make a project like this. Pop in the DVD and you get Roadside Attractions and Lake Shore International logos followed by "UK Film Council and Baker Street present, in association with Future Films and Paradigm Hyde Films, a Take Partnerships production of a Scala Productions film." Whatever it takes to bring films like this to audiences, we can be grateful.
Video: "Ladies in Lavender" is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, and the picture quality is excellent. The exterior scenes of the village and coast, the insides of pubs and houses are clear and sharp no matter what the light level.
Audio: The soundtrack is English Dolby Digital 5.1, which superbly captures the folk and classical violin performances—especially those elusive high notes, and those moments when the violinist eases a note gradually into nothingness. Subtitles are in English.
Extras: The lone extra is a good one—a "making-of" featurette on "Ladies in Lavender: A Fairy Tale" in which behind-the-scenes stills augment talking heads interviews with Dench, Smith, and Dance. Like the film itself, there's a quiet weight to the things that are said, with Dench remarking that "I'm notorious for not reading scripts" and coming onboard simply when a director like Dance approaches her, pitches the concept, and tells her she can do it. And Smith? Good friends with Dench, she was onboard the minute she learned who her co-star would be. As to why Cornwall, we learn that partly it's the remoteness and isolation, but mostly it was the quality of light. "It's shimmering," Dance says. And certainly the location filming contributes greatly to the quiet magic of this understated film.
Bottom Line: In all respects, "Ladies in Lavender" is a modest little film that does everything well that it attempts. As Dench remarks, "it's like a fairy tale—a strand of something" rather than a fully-formed narrative with backstory, character arcs, and complex plotlines. If it suffers, it does so in the same way as perfect dives and skating routines in the Olympics that don't include a high degree of difficulty. But like the stranger, a gift of the sea, who affected an entire village in a magical way, "Ladies in Lavender" is a wonderful surprise for those who encounter it.
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