Peter Bradshaw 

My Old Lady review – a soft-centred but well-acted confection

Kevin Kline, Maggie Smith and Kristin Scott Thomas star in this thoughtful drama about a ménage à trois of sorts – peppered with some ingenious twists, writes Peter Bradshaw
  
  

My Old Lady
Not without charm … Keving Kline in My Old Lady. Photograph: Allstar/BBC FILMS/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar

That title might lead you to expect a soundtrack from Chas and Dave. Actually, it’s a thoughtful emotional drama, written and directed by the veteran playwright Israel Horovitz. The film is a bit sentimental here and there, but well-acted, and when the cinemas are so full of YA, it’s interesting to get some A: a film for grownups. Kevin Kline plays recovering alcoholic Mathias, who shows up in Paris, having been left a handsome apartment by his father; embittered by failures and disappointments, he is relying on this property to boost his self-esteem. But to his horror, he finds it is a viager: it has a sitting tenant – who sold it for a song on condition that she can stay and receive rent for the rest of her life. This is the 92-year-old Mathilde (Maggie Smith) who regards Mathias with polite, queenly tolerance, though her daughter Chloé (Kristin Scott Thomas) is more disdainful. It is perhaps not too hard to guess the narrative direction of this ménage à trois, but there are ingenious twists along the way and the performances make it watchable. A soft-centred piece of movie confectionery, not without charm.

 

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