Movie review: My Old Lady

Cast: Kevin Kline, Maggie Smith, Kristin Scott Thomas
Director: Israel Horovitz
Running time: 107 mins
Rating: M (adult themes)

Verdict: Great performances, but still feels like a three-character play

Now in his mid-70s, prolific playwright Israel Horovitz shows little sign of slowing down, directing his first film My Old Lady, an adaptation of one of his own plays.

The title isn't nearly as enticing as Horovitz's cast, whose performances are the main reason to enjoy this melodrama. Though his cinematic debut never quite leaves behind its stage origins, it's clear the brilliant cast enjoys his wordy script and they do an exceptional job delivering empathy to what are difficult characters.

The story is of a down and out, self-obsessed New Yorker who inherits a Paris apartment from his estranged father. Arriving in France, Mathias Gold (Kline) is stunned to learn from the apartment tenants, Englishwoman Mathilde Girard (Smith) and her daughter Chloe (Thomas), that the apartment is actually a viager.

This means Mathias' father paid a small price for the property under the agreement he would then pay a monthly fee to its previous owner Mathilde, who has the right to live in the apartment until she dies.

It only takes a beat for the abrasive Mathias to ask, "How old are you?"

Kline and Smith are fabulous together as they trade witty quips and conversation, and for a while it's a joy anticipating which way the story will unfold. It becomes more obvious with the introduction of Chloe, a depressed woman with little time for her new houseguest, but who becomes an integral part of Mathias' transformation from bitter son to one more forgiving of his father.

My Old Lady starts off with a charming sense of humour, matched by a shabby-chic setting and a quaint soundtrack. However, the comedy stops rather abruptly as the reality of the prickly characters lives are revealed and we're thrown into a world of regret, longing and anger.

It's a big ask for these characters to unburden themselves from years of emotional baggage with a balance of humour and pathos, but the classy cast get pretty close to pulling it off.

- TimeOut