My Old Lady is a British-French-American comedy-drama film written and directed by Israel Horovitz in his feature directorial debut. The film was released in 2014, and stars Maggie Smith, Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Dominique Pinon. It was screened in the Special Presentations section of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.
Video My Old Lady (film)
Context
The film My Old Lady is an adaptation of Horovitz's play of the same name, which premiered in 1996 at the Gloucester Stage Co., founded by Horovitz in East Gloucester, MA.
Horovitz, principally a playwright and theatre director, and whose plays have been translated and performed in more than 30 languages worldwide, had previously directed only one film, 3 Weeks After Paradise, a 51-minute testimonial from 2002 about his family's experiences following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York's World Trade Center.
Maps My Old Lady (film)
Plot
Mathias, a down-and-out New Yorker, travels to Paris to sell a large, valuable apartment he has inherited from his estranged father. Once there, however, he discovers an old woman, Mathilde, living in the apartment with her daughter Chloé.
Mathias quickly learns that the apartment is a "viager" -- an ancient French system for buying and selling apartments -- and that he will not actually be in possession of the apartment until Mathilde dies, and that until then he owes her a life annuity of EUR2,400 a month. All this is a surprise to him, since his father never told him and Mathias had language problems with the French lawyer.
Mathias has no money and no place to live, but Mathilde allows him to stay in the apartment with her if he pays rent. However, to pay for the next life annuity payment, he steals and sells furniture from the apartment and also asks a prospective buyer of his contract for advance payments.
Mathias discovers that Mathilde and his father had a long-lasting affair while both were married. Mathias and Chloé fall in love with each other after emotionally bonding over their childhoods. Since Chloé wants to stay in the apartment, Mathias decides at the last minute to decline a multi-million Euro offer for the apartment/contract. Mathilde points out that Mathias does not have to worry about money: he can sell en viager, allowing him to live in the apartment while also providing him a life annuity, albeit a modest one because of his relatively young age of 57.
Cast
- Kevin Kline as Mathias "Jim" Gold
- Kristin Scott Thomas as Chloé Girard
- Maggie Smith as Mathilde Girard
- Stéphane Freiss as François Roy
- Dominique Pinon as Monsieur Lefebvre
- Stéphane De Groodt as Philippe
- Christian Rauth - Furniture Dealer
- Delphine Lanson - Femme de Ménage
- Noémie Lvovsky as Dr. Florence Horowitz (Mathilde's doctor)
- Sophie Touitou - Female Opera Singer
- Nathalie Newman - Philippe's Wife
- Ora Yermia - Girl with Roses
- Gillian Horovitz - Gardienne
- Balkissa Touréh - Messenger
Production
My Old Lady is a British-French-American film production venture between BBC Films, Cohen Media Group, and Deux Chevaux Films. The film is produced by Rachael Horovitz (Moneyball), Gary Foster (Sleepless in Seattle), Nitsa Benchetrit and David Barrot. Film production began filming on location in Paris and its surrounding suburbs on September 26, 2013.
Reception
My Old Lady received mixed to positive reviews, garnering a 60% rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on 74 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Although My Old Lady doesn't quite live up to its stars' talents, Kevin Kline and Maggie Smith carry the film capably whenever they're together onscreen." On Metacritic, the film has a 53/100 rating based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
References
External links
- Official website
- My Old Lady on IMDb
- My Old Lady at Box Office Mojo
- My Old Lady at Rotten Tomatoes
- My Old Lady at Metacritic
- UniFrance
- AlloCiné
Source of article : Wikipedia
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