Day 88: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Seven pensioners head to Jaipur, India in the hopes of spending their retirement in a beautiful hotel. When they get there, however, it’s less spectacular than the ad led them to believe but even though it’s not what they expected, it turns out that it was exactly what they needed.

It’s important when you have quite a large cast that you’re given the chance to learn and care about each one, with the focus not just being put on a few of them. Their stories were all interesting and it was good to see how they came to enjoy their time in Jaipur. Well, not all of them did; Jean (Penelope Wilton) couldn’t get into the swing of things but everyone else managed. Even racist Muriel (Maggie Smith).

It must be so difficult to be with someone for 40 years and realise that you are not right for each other. You might’ve been at one point but now you’re in different places and the relationship just doesn’t work anymore. It was quite brave of them to decide to go their separate ways, I thought. It’s so easy to get stuck even when you know it’s not the right thing. Through the whole film you get the sense that you should go for the things that you want and not just let them pass you by. I definitely agree but I think it takes a strong person to really go for it.

For some reason it took me a little while to get into this film but once I did, it was really great. Celia Imrie is perhaps one of my favourite actresses, she always has me laughing. In fact, the lot of them were great in their own ways. It seemed quite realistic, like it wasn’t even really a film but more like how they would have actually been. I think I’d quite like to visit India, despite my fear of large crowds. It definitely doesn’t seem like it’d be boring, anyway.

8/10

Day 16: Mrs Henderson Presents

I decided that since my blogs were become more and more mopey I should perhaps watch something light, to brighten my mood. Which led me to this film but obviously I didn’t read what it was about and it turned out to not be as light as I had imagined. Mrs Henderson (Dame Judi Dench) loses her husband and decides that in order to avoid boredom she will buy a theatre. She does exactly that and with Vivian Van Damm’s (Bob Hoskins) help her theatre becomes a hit. In order to draw in the crowds she proposes that the women are naked through the shows. This obviously works and her shows are a constant sell-out. This happens with the Blitz occurring which adds quite a sombre note to it all.

As I said, I was looking for a light film that wouldn’t require much thought. The film opened on a funeral, however, so I clearly made a mistake. The funeral was closely followed by Judi Dench sobbing on a boat in the middle of a river. She is quite the actress, the minute her voice cracks at different points in the film I just burst into tears. And I don’t use the word often enough but she was perfectly feisty almost the entire way through.

I don’t have too much to say about the film itself. It did manage to stay quite light-hearted despite what was happening around them and that was great. I would say though, I was not quite ready to see Bob Hoskins’ penis. It just completely took me by surprise and I feel I should warn you, if you choose to watch it.

7/10