(2005) Expecting something quite different, Mrs Sarah Palfrey (Joan Plowright), an elderly widow, takes up residence in a single room (by the month) in The Claremont hotel (bath down the hall, best to let the water run five minutes to get it hot). In the dining hall, Mrs Elvira Arbuthnot (Anna Massey) introduces herself ("You're not allowed to die here"), informing the newest arrival that in the TV room Sex and the City will be showing: "Sundays the roast beef's almost decent." When Mrs Post begins her "interrogation" of Mrs Palfrey, Mrs Arbuthnot makes her desist.

Mrs Palfrey has come to The Claremont in London to be comfortable and safe and not to become an imposition on her daughter. After she telephones her only grandson Desmond, employed at British Archives, to invite him for lunch, leaving a message on his answering machine, she receives no response; she observes that nobody ever seems to call anyone among the hotel's guests.

Taking a letter she has written to post to her daughter Elizabeth (mentioning Desmond's not getting in touch) - also picking up a book, Lady Chatterley's Lover, from the library for Mrs Arbuthnot - Mrs Palfrey stumbles, falling on the sidewalk outside a basement flat from which Ludovic Meyer (Rupert Friend) emerges to her rescue. Invited inside for an inspection of her leg and a cup of tea, she makes further acquaintance with the young (unpublished) writer, who house-sits and performs as a busker to make ends meet.

In return for his kindness, she invites him for dinner Saturday; the other guests mistake him for her "mythical grandson." Agreeing to play the role of Desmond, he calls her "Sasa," making an indelible impression on everyone as a most agreeable grandson. Mrs Post desires that he meet her niece; Mr and Mrs De Salis (theatre people) say with his good looks he should be on the stage.

As for "lyrical" Ludovico "in charge of cheerfulness," he tells Mrs P: "A story is shaping up in my mind." While he's sitting with Mrs P in the park, Ludo's former girlfriend Rosie shows up, crackling with criticism, questioning his claim that the older woman's really his grandmother: "new stage, Harold and Maud." Responding to Mrs P's query about the girl, Ludo says: "My qualities are more honeymoon than marriage."

When the actual Desmond unexpectedly makes an appearance, Mrs Palfrey tells him that relatives are not allowed; she says to the others that the young man is her accountant.

A widower, Mr Osborne (Robert Lang) - "There's more of you than meets the eye" - proposes marriage to Mrs Palfrey.

After telling Mrs P he has no father and his mother's disappointed in him, Ludo agrees to a visit with his mother, during which Mrs Palfrey says she should be proud to have a son of such generosity and kindness toward others. Accepting Ludo's dinner invitation, Mrs Palfrey (partial to Wordsworth's verses while he has high regard for William Blake) answers his questions about her favorite music ("For All We Know" by Rosemary Clooney) and movie (Brief Encounter, which at 18 she saw with Arthur, who became her husband).

Strumming his guitar, Ludo sings the song for Mrs P, but being unfamiliar with the film, he goes to a video store where - destiny? - he meets Gwendolyn (Zoe Tapper), who offers to share watching the movie with him (not having a machine of his own for viewing).

The imperious Elizabeth (Anna Carteret), Mrs Palfrey's daughter and Desmond's mother, comes to The Claremont, demanding to know why relatives are not welcome. Director Dan Ireland saddles Elizabeth Taylor's novel with Ruth Sacks's screenplay for a cinematic ride on which one can take along one's mother or grandmother. However, Mrs Arbutnot's assurance is unfounded.

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Copyright © 2009 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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