Joan Plowright is good in this, and I imagine the producers only secured funding on the strength of her signing up to it. I had been looking forward to seeing this for ages - it sounded just my kind of film - and was very pleased to get the DVD this week.
But the film is so disappointing. A key part of the problem is presumably that the novel this is based on is both third-rate (the screenplay trots out one cliché after another: the London you see is the London Americans think of, red buses everywhere etc); and set in the fifties. The film needlessly updates the setting to the present day but in so doing makes an absolute nonsense of what is already a thin story.
The 'residents' of the hotel are poorly drawn stereotypes, and even the usually wonderful Anna Massey seems to be embarrassed to be in this mess. (The scene where she collapses is pitifully bad). Rupert Friend is a good male lead, and he clearly will go far, but the role he is asked to play is quite unbelievable and especially the bizarre scene where he & Mrs Palfrey visit his mother. Other cast members are either poorly used (Timothy Bateson - who was in the original cast of Waiting for Godot for goodness' sake - plays a muttering half-wit of a porter), or just rubbish. I laughed at the fact that the casting director of the film cast himself as the hotel manager, I don't think anyone else would somehow! The best part of the film other than Plowright is the cinematography which keeps trying to rise above the handicaps of the script & direction.
In essence this is a classic example of a film where you can see what kind of film the director imagined he was making but patently hasn't succeeded, and I'm hardly surprised that it hasn't gained distribution in the UK (or even a UK DVD release for that matter) as it is a very lacklustre and disappointing product.
But the film is so disappointing. A key part of the problem is presumably that the novel this is based on is both third-rate (the screenplay trots out one cliché after another: the London you see is the London Americans think of, red buses everywhere etc); and set in the fifties. The film needlessly updates the setting to the present day but in so doing makes an absolute nonsense of what is already a thin story.
The 'residents' of the hotel are poorly drawn stereotypes, and even the usually wonderful Anna Massey seems to be embarrassed to be in this mess. (The scene where she collapses is pitifully bad). Rupert Friend is a good male lead, and he clearly will go far, but the role he is asked to play is quite unbelievable and especially the bizarre scene where he & Mrs Palfrey visit his mother. Other cast members are either poorly used (Timothy Bateson - who was in the original cast of Waiting for Godot for goodness' sake - plays a muttering half-wit of a porter), or just rubbish. I laughed at the fact that the casting director of the film cast himself as the hotel manager, I don't think anyone else would somehow! The best part of the film other than Plowright is the cinematography which keeps trying to rise above the handicaps of the script & direction.
In essence this is a classic example of a film where you can see what kind of film the director imagined he was making but patently hasn't succeeded, and I'm hardly surprised that it hasn't gained distribution in the UK (or even a UK DVD release for that matter) as it is a very lacklustre and disappointing product.