Having a jaded palate, I was expecting to endure rather than enjoy Ladies in Lavender, but I was very quickly won over by the superb acting and the surprisingly high standard of direction. I also thought the re-creation of the atmosphere of the late 1930s was very sensitively done. Two exceptions: Olga was dressed in 1990s or even current-day style (yes, I know she is an 'artist' but even so...); the combination of flowers blooming in the garden was botanically highly unlikely even in Cornwall! Part, but only part,of the answer to the question of age posed by jackie-107 lies in the fact that the film is precisely set in 1939, as the Second World War breaks out with the German invasion of Poland, as reported on the radio, and not in 1936. But this only gives the sisters three extra years. The date also helps to explain Andrea's unorthodox arrival. Presumably he was the 1939 equivalent of an asylum-seeker! If so, this gives this 'escapist' film a rather interesting contemporary political relevance. Well worth seeing, even for cynics like me!
Review of Ladies in Lavender
