Watch Mrs Palfrey at The Claremont For Free

Best movie of this year hands down!

Really Surprised!

Excellent but underrated film

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Old age these days seems like a curse. The scientists are trying to extend the longevity of life, but we don't know what to do with old people. They remind us of passage and ravages of time. Wrinkles on one's face are not inviting respect but shame and panic. This lovely little movie tells a common story. After losing a husband Sarah Palfray finds that her daughter and grandson don't have the time and interest to pay her a visit. She slowly starts to build her new life. Dame Joan Plowright plays her with warmth and sense of humor, avoiding cheap sentimentality. Young Rupert Friend is more than just a pretty face, we'll see much more of him in future. And, of course the gems of almost every British movie, marvelous character actors like Anna Massey and Georgina Hale. Telling a story is a dying art. Fortunately not everybody gave up on it.

Summary: Tomorrow is made for some, and tomorrow may never come... Score: 9/10 A movie my mom asked me to see. She didn't recommend it, she asked me to see it, so in a way I feel as though she's here watching it with me, perhaps invited to learn something about the way my mom feels about her own life, and to me that's a very special invitation.Joan Plowright is outrageously genius as Mrs. Palfrey, the traditional and sensitive, thoughtful widow who is coming into a new chapter of her life. One many call her Golden Years.Anna Massey has the funniest lines and is adorable. "I watch Sex and the City. It makes me feel better knowing I won't be around very much longer." "I'm just exercising my rights. It keeps my heart going. A little thing I learned from Mrs. Thatcher." One afternoon, coming home from posting a letter to a grandson who never calls, she trips in front of a young man's apartment who comes to her aid. There is something about their meeting where she's says indignantly I'm fine! And he says kindly, no you're not and brings her inside for a moment. There is something very moving about this meeting, as the viewer realizes they could be in either position any time in our lives. Just the right amount of time is spent to let that settle on the surface of consciousness if one is so obliged, but not long enough to force it if you aren't.She invites him, Ludovic Meyer, played by Rupert Friend who bares a striking resemblance to Orlando Bloom, but what an actor! to visit her one Saturday evening for dinner at the Claremont. but when all the other ladies think she means her grandson, she doesn't quite know how to tell them her grandson still has not called, and thus begins a ruse, but a sweet and kindly ruse.Okay I lied, Anna Massey doesn't have a monopoly on the funny lines. Everyone is quite brilliant.The Claremont is a marvelous and quaint hotel in London, but what truly stands out are the personalities. And perhaps in a Harold and Maude sort of way, the two will help each other in astonishing and unexpected ways. In fact the aforementioned film is mentioned at one point.For the "grandson", he begins writing a novel entitled "We Aren't Allowed To Die Here" concerning a rule Mrs. Palfrey told to him that evening at dinner.It reminds me of a woman I met in San Diego. She was in her 90s, and the life she lived, the memories of her life, truly a treat to listen to. That kind of walk through history is never so rich and moving and meaningful as when it is from the person themselves. I wish I remembered her name, she was a remarkable woman.Is it possible when Mrs. Palfrey calls "Major" this is an homage to the famous character from Fawlty Towers played by the very much loved and respected Ballard Berkeley who passed in 1988? We watch as Mrs. Palfrey relives the happiest moments of her life, somewhat vicariously through her new friend Ludovic, as he finds the love of his life through finding the catalyst which brought Mr.s Palfrey and her dead husband Arthur together so long ago, in the film A Brief Encounter by Noel Coward. After watching this film I highly recommend finding a copy of the romantic and beautiful film mentioned by Noel Coward, Brief Encounter (1945), as I am going to watch and review that film next! In the end, Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont is not an ending, but a moment in time. A touching and poignant snapshot of a poem laying on a sidewalk. A ripple on the water and then no more. But something lives on, something beautiful, and we should find the time to share that with our own loved ones, friends, and strangers. For life is so short, and we truly are together here in this crazy and lonely mixed up world.The song "For All We Know", I must confess I already knew how to play on the guitar :) For all we know we may never meet again Before you go make this moment sweet again We wont say good night until the last minute Ill hold out my hand and my heart will be in it For all we know this may only be a dream We come and go like a ripple on a stream So love me tonight; tomorrow was made for some Tomorrow may never come for all we know So love me tonight; tomorrow was made for some Tomorrow may never come for all we know

Thank you Mr. Ireland for not only making a movie that is intelligent, but one that the American ear can understand. I cannot even begin to describe how frustrating it is to try to watch a movie, even American-made, where it's mostly mumbling, or English accents that are difficult to understand. What we have here is a movie for adults, and one that does not make the viewer go HUH? at the end. No special effects are needed, or mad car crashes, or violence to tell the story. Just a good story and script and actors who can actually act and not have to rely on a computer to make the movie a success. Not to say that a younger person would find this movie boring. The story is simple and plausible, and in its simplicity is beauty. An elderly widow moves to London in order to be closer to her family, which like most families, tend to want to forget about their aging relatives and do their best to avoid them as much as possible. The movie makes a wonderful point about how sad and lonely aging can be, and what is particularly sad is the place where Mrs. Palfrey ends up. The scenes in the dining room are some of the best. Why is it that there are assigned tables and that no one takes it upon themselves to sit with someone else, even if they do not speak to one another, so that no one is eating alone? It is a reminder of how lonely life can be. Surrounded by people but lonely, unwanted and unappreciated. Then an accident occurs that brings a young man into Mrs. Palfrey's life, and somehow life seems worth living again and is not so lonely. There is something to look forward to, even if it's just reliving one's memories. What is especially good about this movie is that every actor does a superb job, even if the part is minor. Joan Plowright, as Mrs. Palfrey, is wonderful, as usual. What happens in a lot of movies with an outstanding actor is that the other actors seem to pale in comparison. Not so in this movie. Rupert Friend is perfect as the "adopted" grandson and I hope to see the 2 of them together in other projects.

MRS. PALFREY AT THE CLAREMONT is an adaptation by Ruth Sacks of the book by British novelist Elizabeth Taylor (1912 - 1975) and directed with consummate skill by Dan Ireland. It is a showcase for the extraordinary talents of Dame Joan Plowright who owns the title role and of relative newcomer Rupert Friend, surely an actor to watch rise.Mrs. Palfrey (Plowright) is recently widowed and decides to move to a small hotel in London to spend her last years as a lady of independence. The Claremont is a crumbling old edifice that serves as a retirement home for a small but fascinating group of tenants: the fastidious but cranky Mrs. Arbuthnot (Anna Massey), a would-be suitor for Mrs. Palfrey's hand Mr. Osborne (Robert Lang), Mrs. Post (Marcia Warren), the nosy matchmaker Mrs. Burton (Georgina Hale), and a strange old couple, the De Salises (Millicent Martin and Michael Culkin). Once settled into her barely navigable room, Mrs. Palfrey meets her fellow 'inmates' at dinner, and announces that she has a grandson who will be calling on her at times. Yet despite multiple attempts her grandson Desmond (Lorcan O'Toole) doesn't respond and Mrs. Palfrey realizes she has entered a world of loneliness.Out on an errand she falls and is befriended by a handsome young busker/writer Ludovic Meyer (Rupert Friend) who nurses her leg wound, makes her tea, and escorts her home. Ludo is a loner and lonely and when Mrs. Palfrey offers him dinner at the hotel he gladly accepts. But at the hotel the guests presume that Mrs. Palfrey's guest will be her grandson Desmond: Mrs. Palfrey hastily informs Ludo that she has erred and Ludo agrees to pose as her grandson. The guests at the hotel are charmed by Ludo, and Mrs. Palfrey and Ludo grow increasingly bonded - they share many likes and tastes and meld into a beautiful relationship that would be the envy of any grandmother and grandson. Mrs. Palfrey's loneliness is dissipated by Ludo and the effect is vice versa. How the two progress to the end of the film, finding new lives from old ones, forms the immensely touching finale to the film. Though this film falls into the 'ensemble acting' category, so finely entwined are the performances of every actor in the cast, the film clearly belongs to Dame Joan Plowright whose performance once again proves that she is one of the durable treasures of cinema and stage. This is a film that will touch the hearts of even the most hardened viewers and this viewer cannot recommend it more highly. Grady Harp, December 06