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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us June 17, 2006 FIlm reviews: ‘Claremont’ showcases antique talent By Chris Honore’ Tidings Correspondent Ah, the Brits. They are not afraid to place a marvelous, elderly woman in the center of a sweet, sentimental tale and let the camera caress her. And what better actress than Dame Joan Plowright, who is extraordinary in “Mrs. Palfrey at The Claremont.” This is a film not to be missed. The premise is quite simple. Mrs. Palfrey, having just lost her husband, and facing a life decidedly different from that which she has known for decades, makes the decision to move into a small residential hotel in London. In the opening scene, we see her tentatively walking into the lobby, stopping to register, and is then shown her room, a space so diminutive that it prompts her to say, “Oh, dear.” She carefully dresses for dinner, wanting to make a good first impression, and as she enters the dining room we are introduced to her fellow residents, a marvelous cast of old Brits, led by Anna Massey as Mrs. Arbuthnot. It is instantly clear, seeing the guests sitting at their individual tables, that these older folks are each doing battle with those insidious and relentless opponents of old age, isolation and loneliness. Like so many marginalized elders, in England and America, they sit and wait — for a phone call, for a visit, for something that will engage them and ask more of them than simply their presence in a stark dining room or on a park bench. It is a vigil that requires far more courage than is ever acknowledged. Mrs. Palfrey, stoical, committed to transforming herself in her widowhood, sits down at her designated table and thus joins these citizens from a different time, a time of far greater formality, who have memories as boon companions and little else. Her life is changed, however, when, hurrying to avoid imminent rain, she falls outside the basement apartment of twenty-something Ludovic Meyer (Rupert Friend). Seeing her lying on the sidewalk, he rushes out to help her, taking her back inside where he serves her a cup of tea. They become fast friends. Ludovic happily becomes the tip of the spear in Mrs. Palfrey’s restrained battle with her cenobite existence. They adopt each other and share a series of moments that are delightful and lovely to watch — sad at times but never maudlin, and always moving and engaging. Filmmakers, like society in general, have for too long marginalized superb thespians like Plowright, content to watch them do a slow, sad fade. Perhaps we are discomfited by seeing the elderly up close and personal. Likely they portend too much, are reminders of a future that awaits us all, held in abeyance, denied, perhaps, until that inevitable moment when denial becomes a three-legged chair. A joyous hunk of holiday cheer By Donald Lind Tidings Correspondent The Oscar-nominated “Joyeux Noél” takes an approach that few films dare to be these days-it is so darned happy and pleasant, it is infectious. The film, in French, German and English, with English subtitles, spreads the cheer around to any and all who believe in holiday peace. It sets up a Yuletide celebration in a most unlikely location: a corpse-riddled, snow-covered battlefield. The year is 1914. The First World War has just broken out in Europe and both sides show varying degrees of enthusiasm. In Scotland, two brothers (Steven Robertson and Robert Laing) are excited that “something’s happening in their lives,” while their local priest (Gary Lewis) reluctantly follows as a stretcher-bearer. In France, a lieutenant (Guilliame Canet) agonizes over the possible birth of his child as he leads troops into battle. And, in Germany, tenor opera singer Nikolaus Sprink (Benno Furmann) must leave his singing partner/lover Anna Sorenson (Diane Kruger) to serve on the front lines. The story goes back to these three groups the most, but it focuses on a true event. On Christmas Eve that year, Anna and Nikolaus entertain their freezing troops with a soulful rendition of “Silent Night.” Before long, the Scottish troops join in on bagpipe, and soon after, the German, French and Scottish troops organize a one-night-only ceasefire to celebrate the holiday. “Joyeux Noel” focuses on the joy and hope-filled moments of warring nations setting aside their weapons to engage in kickball and prayer. But it also looks at the grim reality of the consequences of fraternizing with the enemy-even at Christmas. Writer-director Christian Carion presents this story as an anti-war and pro-humanity tale. He doesn’t shy away from showing the horrifying effects of trench warfare during that era; the brief shots of men running into the foggy “no man’s land” only to be gunned down by machine guns is matched only by the sight of the bloody aftermath in the makeshift hospitals. Those moments are brief, however. The majority of the film is spent on the hesitant bond formed between the rival troops. Many scenes are sweet to the point of causing tooth decay, but are hard to resist. At one point, the German officer suggests he and the French lieutenant meet up in Paris for a drink, “after Germany has occupied it.” Carion also goes for a music soothing the savage beast type of motif. The German and Scottish songs lead to the cautious ceasefire, and soon after, the Germans begin humming a Scottish song about longing for home when sent off to fight elsewhere. The commanding officers for each camp are looked at as cold authoritarians who have no clue as to how the soldiers are dealing with the carnage and will not accept any sort of notion that the enemy can be as human as their side. Yet, they also have a point: how would it look to your home country if you’re socializing with the enemy attacking your homes? And, how can you possibly look to kill the man you exchanged photographs with once the shooting resumes? These questions are not easy and not answered. They shouldn’t have to be. In “Joyeux Noel,” freezing, dying troops set aside their weapons and embraced their fellow man in the spirit of Christmas and paid for it afterward. It is a film that shows there can be hope for life anywhere, even in a trench. 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