A BBC documentary directed by Roger Michell (NOTHING HILL 1999, ENDURING LOVE 2004, VENUS 2006), four octogenarian Dames, Atkins, Dench, Plowright and Smith, are gathered together in a country cottage in Sussex owned by Plowright and her late husband Laurence Oliver, to play some chin music and reminisce their long and prosperous acting careers.
TEA WITH THE DAMES - though it is champagne that they sip heartily at one time, presents itself as an endearing gabfest that is laden with humorous ribbing, salacious anecdotes (“the knocking house” in Italy or a landlady’s licentious act, for instance) and fond recollections (the disparaging assessment of their physical appearances, about working with their husbands), spontaneously responding to prompts of pedestrian topics like “the title of Dame”, “husbands”, “old age”, “advice to younger self”, “acting in big Hollywood movies” etc., the silver-haired quartet gives it laldy, purveying wits (Dench’s advice to her younger self is not to fall in love too easily, hear! hear!), quips (Smith jokes she might not have enough time to finish watching the whole damned thing called Downton Abbey) and extemporaneous recitations, with Sir. Oliver often in the butt of their cracks, do you know when is the only time Smith see stars at the National Theater?
Apart from strewing inviting footage and old photos relative to specific topics, mostly in the subjects' salad days, and occasionally, shots of the picturesque location, to ginger up the chipper if unrelieved tittle-tattle, the film has little else to offer in terms of cinematic flourishes, solely banking on the natural charisma of the four national treasures, Smith’s first-class comic timing, Dench’s spry verve, Atkins’ disarming modesty and Plowright’s congenital amicability, respectively.
Among the four, the eldest and purblind Plowright is officially retired from acting (sadly, the same ophthalmological ailment has already caught up with Dench), the rest three still expresses their undimmed interest in acting (as long as invitations are tendered), it is that cherished spirit of these thespians extraordinaire, that allures us, time and again, to dig into their inexhaustible and indelible bodies of work!
referential entries: JR and Agnès Varda’s FACES PLACES (2017, 7.8/10); John Madden’s THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (2011, 6.3/10).
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