Are all English dramas required to have a “Dashwood”? It must be written somewhere in the sacred Austen texts of post-Shakespeare English literature. Tom Wilkinson is newly retired Graham Dashwood, one of seven “sent” to exile at The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, an Indian way station for abandoned ancient Englanders.
Why are they all English? Why are they all at the same hotel at the same time? Why were they all on the same flight/bus/tuk-tuk? Well, they weren’t ALL on the same tuk-tuk, those things can only seat two; I just like saying, “tuk-tuk.” And why are they the only guests at the hotel? Seems a bizarre and odd coincidence, does it not?
Those are questions for a different film. This one was almost coldly calculated to appeal to the resident grandparent of your acquaintance. Why else would there be Graham reliving his youth as a cricket batsman? And Evelyn (Judi Dench) getting the first job in her life, in India no less? This movie is a testimony to the fortitude of the old – not so undaring and unflinching after all. Let it be an example to humanity that you can stick a retiree in a foreign land with no amenities and he/she will emerge just fine. The battle cry from our former Slumdog host Dev Patel continues to be, “it will be all right in the end. If it isn’t all right, it isn’t the end.” This is a most clever [read: calculated] way to appeal to people who haven’t got time to wait out disappointment.
And does it have to be India? Of course not. Heck, this could be France or Scotland. You just have to make sure there is culture clash so that delightful and curmudgeonly Maggie Smith can get all her good one-liners in. But the fact is that without a cast of likeable elders – Smith, Dench, Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, this film would, well, have you seen that commercial where the old lady whines, “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”? Yeah, that.
While watching Marigold Hotel, I considered the metaphor of a sacred elephant (or in this case, sacred cow) burial grounds – a place where old people go to die, alone or in very quaint company, away from love ones but at peace. That’s not quite right. I think of it more now as Purgatory. Death has already happened; our characters just haven’t realized it. The Hotel is an unfamiliar way station to sort out their lives. Have they come to peace? Are they ready to move on? Has Murial (Smith) come to terms with her wasted life? Have Douglas and Jean (Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton) embraced the fact that they’ve grown apart? Will Norman (Ronald Pickup) figure out he’s no longer 18? Will Celia Imrie make my review? I’m pretty sure this Purgatory thing is a deeper metaphor than director John Madden or the producers had intended, but the more I think about it, the better I like it.
Rated PG-13, 124 Minutes
D: John Madden
W: Ol Parker, who writes about ol’ parkers
Genre: Pre-wake
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Octogenarians
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Xenophobes
This movie is finally finding some screens. When it was released here (May 4th?) one had to go to SF to see it. Then it came to a couple of Landmark screens. Now it is not a long journey to get to see it. Was this some word of mouth building exercise or just timidity? Thanks for reviewing it, you may have given it much needed “legs.”
While I agree the plot was “calculated,” I don’t think of it as done “coldly,” i.e. unfriendly or emotionless. It quite joyfully and enthusiastically embraced its target audience (and why shouldn’t it?) with humor and dilemmas sure to appeal to the older crowd. And the cast was quite simply splendid–not to be missed by fans of Judi, Maggie, etc.!