News location:

Canberra Today 11°/15° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Review: “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” (PG) ? ? ? ½

TO film Deborah Moggach’s gentle novel about dealing with major culture change in later years, director John Madden took a top British cast to India.

The result is delightful, warmly humorous, centered on old age yet un-assertive about it, glowing with India’s urban colours and motion, not didactic about its social stratification or its culture yet respectful of them.

At the no-longer-new Marigold Hotel, young manager Sonny (Dev Patel) greets his first guests, seven no-longer-young Brits.

Recently widowed Evelyn (Judi Dench) remains enthusiastic about life. Xenophobic retired housekeeper Muriel (Maggie Smith) travels in a wheelchair, takes comfort from complaining and won’t eat anything she can’t spell.

The marriage of Douglas (Bill Nighy) and Jean (Penelope Wilton) is declining. Madge (Celia Imrie) and Norman (Ronald Pickup) seek carnality but not with each other. Retired judge Graham (Tom Wilkinson) has good reason to be a loner.

With this cast, you can trust “Marigold Hotel” to deliver good value. Its humour is well-populated with quick one-liners in an unstressed plot that goes nowhere in particular in dealing affectionately and perceptively with newly-met characters interacting not only with each other, but also with Indian folk whose lives touch theirs. That it revolves around retired Brits in India to pass their final years should not define its target audience or prevent younger adults from getting a full bowl of satisfaction from it.

 

At all cinemas

Who can be trusted?

In a world of spin and confusion, there’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in Canberra.

If you trust our work online and want to enforce the power of independent voices, I invite you to make a small contribution.

Every dollar of support is invested back into our journalism to help keep citynews.com.au strong and free.

Become a supporter

Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

Dougal Macdonald

Dougal Macdonald

Share this

Leave a Reply

Related Posts

Follow us on Instagram @canberracitynews