The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011), directed by John Madden (Daniel)

This film features a crop of some of the very best of British actors (including Dame Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, and Dame Maggie Smith, as well as others), as retirement aged men and women who move into a retirement home in Jaipur, India. This retirement home turns out to actually be a dilapidated hotel run by a sweet but clueless young Indian man named Soony Kapoor (Dev Patel). Throughout the film Jaipur is explored, love is won and lost, and many preconceived notions are challenged. 

If this summary sounds somewhat trite believe me, the film is anything but. A fantastic script coupled with superb acting left me happy and engaged throughout the film. Dench in particular was excellent as Evelyn, a woman finally emerging from the shadow of her newly dead husband to become a strong woman in her own right. The rest of the acting is excellent on the whole, although I was somewhat disappointed with Ronald Pickup as Norman Cousins, an aging hunter of romance. 

The films themes come across strongly. Mostly that love, in various forms, can always overcome hopelessness. This central lesson is one that almost all the characters learn in one way or another and it is the driving force behind the film. Other themes are the collision of the old and the modern, and that beauty is sometimes held deep beneath the surface.

Adding to excellent acting and a beautiful message is the excellent cinematography. The hotel itself, though aging, is a gorgeous building. The rooms, courtyards and hallways provide many textures and a glorious interplay of light and shade. This beautiful building, coupled with city scenes in Jaipur weave a wonderful visual tapestry, and transport the viewer into a new world.

All in all I would recommend this movie heartily. I would not skip over it as merely being for “old people,” but rather watch and enjoy it as an excellent film in its own right.