Movie #960 "My Old Lady" was a movie I had seen the trailer for, and since three theater actors were in it (Maggie Smith, Kevin Kline, and Kristin Scott Thomas), I made it a point to look for it. The movie is based on a play, and not just any play, but one that the director had written. I tell you this because it has a bearing on the pacing. Yes, the big change, I would imagine, not having seen the play,is that Paris is almost a 4th major character in, and it is photographed quite well. And I found that most enjoyable. And the high point works well with Kevin Kline's breakdown, where the truth finally comes out, but I found fault with the editing and pacing of the piece. It starts and stops, and the plot's structure depends on a bunch of little vignettes, so it's really hard to avoid choppiness that results. Also, I felt Kristin Scott Thomas, normally a wonderful actress, changed way too quickly toward Mathias, and that's another problem I blame on the pacing of the film. I really didn't care much for the character Kevin Kline was playing (his charm was supposed to be working on the audience, I think, but it wasn't there for me) so I got less and less interested in where the story was going. Once the pacing started to pick up, then it got to it, but there's a bit of lag time here. So I'm on the fence about recommending this or not. If you want to see Maggie Smith in a completely different part than the one she is now famous for (Downton Abbey) , this might be intriguing to you. Also, if you have never really seen Kevin Kline work hard at getting across a contrary character, then it shows here, as well.
My Old Lady2014PG-13 I would give it 3.4 stars out of 5.
New Yorker Mathias Gold is delighted to learn that he's inherited a Paris apartment from his deceased father. But delight turns to dismay when Mathias travels to France to sell the property and finds his dad's former lover occupying the place.
- Cast:
- Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Stephane Freiss, Dominique Pinon, Noémie Lvovsky
- Genre:
- Drama
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