Ladies in Lavender

1936, a village on the Cornish coast. Two elderly sisters live in the same house: Ursula never married, Janet is a widow. One morning they find a young man on the beach; he was washed overboard in a storm and is unconscious. They take him in. Andrea is Polish, speaks no English, and had set out for America. He recovers. Then he finds a violin in the house. He plays, and plays well. Word gets about in the village and a woman musician staying nearby takes an interest in him. Ursula becomes attached to the young man and the attachment is not returned. Charles Dance writes and directs. Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Daniel Brühl are in the cast. It is Dance's first work as a director. The source is a short story by William J. Locke. The music is at the centre of the narrative; the violin was recorded by Joshua Bell and the score is by Nigel Hess. The matter it works at is feeling that comes too late; the film does not make Ursula ridiculous and leaves the situation as it is. The work of the two actors together carries the film and the relationship between the sisters is its best side. The coastal village of the period is built in detail and the suspicion of the outsider is inside the narrative. Its limit is plot; the narrative is thin and the last section comes quickly. Who it is for: viewers who like quiet British drama and films centred on acting. Who it is not for: little happens, the pace is slow, and the plot familiar.