Four stars. Rating: PG-13, for sexual candor and fleeting profanity
By Derrick Bang
Change can be difficult —
sometimes heartbreaking — even when embraced willingly.
It becomes considerably worse
when change is forced upon us.
During the prologue to director
John Madden’s thoroughly charming The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, we meet
seven individuals who fear they’ve reached that point in their lives — “of a
certain age,” as the fashionably polite suggest — when society deems them irrelevant.
Worse yet, all these folks are further burdened by their own personal baggage,
in some cases a soul-crushing weight that has dragged them down for decades.
Recently widowed Evelyn (Judi
Dench) has just learned, to her humiliation, that her husband left her
financially stranded and — by relegating her to the role of “companion” —
unable to fend for herself. Graham (Tom Wilkinson), a High Court judge, finally
has let cynicism overrule compassionate objectivity. Muriel (Maggie Smith), a
fearful, reflexive xenophobe, needs hip replacement surgery.
Singletons Madge (Celia Imrie)
and Norman (Ronald Pickup), refusing to gracefully accept their advanced years,
continue to seek sexual thrills like thirtysomething sybarites. Tragically,
marital bliss died long ago for Jean (Penelope Wilton) and Douglas (Bill
Nighy); now she only snipes at him, while he patiently endures.
Fans of British cinema already
realize they need read no further; with a cast like this, how could Madden’s
adaptation of Deborah Moggach’s These Foolish Things — screenplay by Ol
Parker — miss?
It doesn’t, of course. The Best
Exotic Marigold Hotel is a gentle reminder that life doesn’t stop at 60; that
new experiences are to be embraced, not avoided; that fate truly does reward
the brave; and that it’s never too late to make new friends or find new lovers.
Through chance, serendipity and
design — and, in Muriel’s case, medical necessity (no waiting time for her
surgery) — all these retirees find themselves on the same plane to India,
responding to the skillfully worded promise of colorful brochures and
come-hither Internet sites extolling the luxurious accommodations of Jaipur’s
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
But the cacophonous reality is
overwhelming; rather than a colorful land of enchantment and captivating tradition,
India seems — to our newcomers — noisy, overcrowded and not quite finished ...
much like the hotel itself. Their new “retirement palace” isn’t quite ready for
prime time, despite the assurances of its enthusiastic young owner, Sonny
Kapoor (Dev Patel), who inherited the once-sophisticated building from his
equally idealistic father. Alas, Dad’s grandiose plans for the structure never
quite gelled.
Ubiquitous Western amenities are
spotty at best — water, electricity, phones and even doors for privacy — and
improvements appear to have stalled, despite Sonny’s insistence that idled
workers will return to the job “soon.” Then, too, India itself is full of
contrasts: intoxicating and intimidating, traditional and modern, beautiful and
strange.
Graham, who spent his childhood
in India, lacks the naïve expectations that paralyze some of his companions; he
seems right at home ... and yet, somehow not so. Each of these characters is on
a mission of discovery; Graham’s quest is perhaps more tangible. Where,
precisely, does he go every day?
Evelyn becomes our narrative
chaperone, her thoughts spoken aloud as she records her hopes and experiences
in a blog that she wonders if her adult children, back in England, will bother
to read. But she’s willing to brave Jaipur’s teeming delights, at least, as is
Douglas, quickly transfixed by his visits to temples and marketplaces.
But Douglas cannot get his wife
to budge; Jean defiantly, angrily parks herself in the hotel courtyard each
day, pretending to read while developing far too much interest in Graham.
Muriel, similarly, refuses to even try the local cuisine, content instead to
nibble on the packs of British biscuits and bottles of pickles that weighted
down her luggage.
Norman and Madge, seeking love with
the giddy expectation of oversexed teenagers, become members of a posh local
club ... where they bump into each other, both having attempted a pose of
aristocratic sophistication, in the hopes of attracting company.
Fish-out-of-water sagas are ripe
for humor, and Parker’s well-constructed script is laden with hilariously
frosty one-liners, many of them — particularly those of a sexual nature —
coming from Madge. Imrie has impeccable comic timing, with her bluest remarks
at odds with the deceptively bland expression she uses to disarm her
companions.
This clever, shrewdly perceptive
screenplay should make a name for Parker, until this point known only for
writing and directing 2005’s gender-bending romantic comedy, Imagine Me &
You (a film I clearly must catch up with). I don’t know where Parker has been
hiding for the past seven years, but a script this sharp is worth the wait.
The characters are richly
portrayed, as well: no surprise, given a cast this talented. Our heart aches
for Nighy’s Douglas, a glass-half-full guy forever trying to cheer up and
encourage a wife who has become bitter, spiteful and downright cruel. We see
the pain in Nighy’s eyes: Douglas, ever the loyal husband, simply can’t bring
himself to respond in kind. He’s not built that way.
All of which makes his growing
interest in Evelyn — completely reciprocated — that much more hopeless and
frustrating. Douglas and Evelyn sense, in each other, true kindred spirits: explorers,
optimists, romantics ... all the “fun stuff” that must have drawn Douglas to
his wife, years back, but now has turned to ash.
Muriel, cocooned in her
wheelchair like a frightened bird, barely speaks to anybody ... and yet
curiosity eventually prompts her to acknowledge the silent kindness of the
hotel’s lower-caste Indian housekeeper. It turns out — Moggach’s narrative
really is quite clever — that Muriel and this young woman have something in
common, which becomes the bridge by which Muriel comes to terms with her new
surroundings.
And once Maggie Smith is allowed
to open up, let’s just say that she darn near runs away with the film: no small
accomplishment, in the company of so many other scene-stealers.
The interpersonal melodrama isn’t
confined to these British ex-pats. Sonny is deeply, madly, passionately in love
with Sunaina (Tena Desae), a free-spirited, 21st century young woman whose
“loose behavior” scandalizes the young man’s traditional mother (Lillete
Dubey). Mom insists that her son should embrace the ages-old custom of an
arranged marriage.
Patel, well remembered as the
star of Slumdog Millionaire, plays Sonny as a giddy, hyper-enthusiastic
dreamer: a breathless bundle of energy who wields silver-tongued platitudes
with the skill of a circus ringmaster (and one almost expects sawdust on the
floors of his dilapidated hotel rooms). Sonny’s “grand scheme” — outsourcing
British retirement to India — is both audacious and hilarious, much like the
young man himself.
And despite being in over his
head, at all times, he lives by a mantra — the film’s signature line — that
we’d all do well do embrace: “Things always work out in the end ... and if they
haven’t worked out yet, it’s not the end.”
Truly, that’s as wise as the
similarly sage theatrical observation, from Shakespeare in Love, that things
always “turn out well” ... even though nobody knows why. (Madden also directed
that charmer, which I guess isn’t a surprise.)
The filmmakers skillfully walk a
delicate line, poking gentle fun at things Indian — as experienced by these
British newcomers — while never resorting to cruel judgment or unkind
stereotypes. The hustle and bustle of sun-baked Jaipur never overwhelms the
pride and solicitous kindness of the city’s people, regardless of their social
status; this view may be somewhat idealistic, but that’s in keeping with the
positive outlook that Evelyn, Graham and Norman embrace immediately, and which
eventually comes to the others (well ... most of them, anyway).
The location footage is rich and
vibrant, with cinematographer Ben Davis alternating the city’s lively
brightness with the hotel’s somewhat muted color palette. Production designer
Alan MacDonald does marvelous work with the primary setting, actually Ravla
Khempur, a royal palace turned equestrian hotel found in the tiny village of
Khempur, just outside the lake district of Udaipur. The building itself feels
magical, as if its hidden treasures merely wait to be revealed to those with
the proper imaginative spirit.
The same can be said of this
film, replete with quiet delights and the sharply etched observation that life
— with its alternating joys and tragedies — only leaves us behind if we let it.
I fear that The Best Exotic
Marigold Hotel will be swallowed up, in this country, by its proximity to the
action franchises that are marking the early arrival of cinema’s noisy summer.
That would be a shame; this gentle, perceptive character study deserves the
widest possible exposure.
2 comments:
Great review of a great film!!!!!! Thank you
I was curious about this one. I think I'll go see it now.
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