Hello everyone!! Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I are back to watching and sharing about comfy cozy (and sometimes, chilling) movies for the fall season. Feel free to join in with us!! Our link will be live for a whole week after we post about a movie.

This week’s movie is Ladies in Lavender, starring Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Daniel Brühl, and Natascha McElhone.

From Amazon: Aging spinster sisters Ursula (Judi Dench) and Janet (Maggie Smith) discover a young man (Daniel Brühl) near death on the beach by their home in a small Cornish fishing village. Taking him in, they discover that he is Andrea, a violinist from Krakow, Poland, who had been swept off an ocean liner on which he was sailing to a fresh start in America. It is set in the 1930s.

I ended up enjoying this movie, but at first I had my doubts. It begins innocently enough, with Ursula and Janet walking their beach, going to bed that evening, and then a violent storm hitting the coast overnight. In the morning, the sisters spy a man on their beach and find a young man, close to death. They of course call the doctor and bring him into their house to nurse him. He eventually awakens and they learn his name is Andrea, and that he is Polish.

Through trial and error and some beginning German on Janet’s end, they are able to somewhat communicate. Ursula also teaches him some English as well.

Ursula also however begins to develop a crush on the young boy. And yes, it is awkward and uncomfortable for the viewer, and in part this is all due to the masterful acting of Judi Dench. She nails the fawnings of a young girl newly in love, the attitude, the postures, the small gestures and looks, the flouncing and pouting and delight. It was a testimony I felt to her skills as an actress, and Maggie Smith cracked me up as usual, with her expressions and faces regarding her sister’s behavior. She notices and her demeanor alternates between alarmed and concerned and sometimes just plain what the eff, with some amazing side eyed looks.

Eventually they learn that Andrea is a very talented violinist, and as he begins to heal, he begins to explore his new temporary home. He befriends Russian painter Olga, played by Natascha McElhone, and Ursula is a bit jealous, and compares her to a witch in a fairy tale.

Andrea is spreading his wings, and the ladies are feeling a bit jealous, yes Janet too, in her own way. He has come to represent dreams and desires that were lost to them, that they were denied, for love in the case of Ursula, and Janet, who lost her love and her chance at being a mother (this is just my interpretation). They want to hold on to him, to hold onto these dreams, and the small ways that they can live them out. Olga with her free spirit and youth, not to mention the ability to speak easily and fluently with Andrea, make her a threat. All three women know that Andrea is a special however, and do want the best for him.

This movie had a very slow beginning, but as the story picked up and became more complex and less strange, I became invested in these characters of Ursula and Janet. It was a weirdly beautiful story if you stick with it, albeit sad.

The setting is beautiful, a stone home on the coast, surrounded by ocean and garden. It is like a dream itself, a fairy tale home hidden away by the sea. The music itself is gorgeous, fitting to the movie and the characters. There was one shot, so beautiful, of Andrea perched on the rocks at night, playing his violin to the sea and it was a moment, and ugh. I am just such a sucker for cinematography. If I were Keith Brymer Jones I would have cried at just that one shot alone.

If you start this movie, stick with it. It is slow starter, there is not much action, it is a quiet little spark of a movie, but it really is beautiful. It is about love and unfulfilled dreams, aging and youth, and letting go. A bit like holding a butterfly in your hands, that is this movie.

You can find this movie almost on every streaming platform if you are interested in watching.

If you have watched along with us, and want to share your link, please feel free. We would love it!

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Up next – Kiki’s Delivery Service! We are about to enter a wave of my picks, starting with Kiki. I always have to make Lisa watch a cartoon it seems.

We are also thinking about having a fun watch party for the last movie, Chocolat. If you think you might be interested in this, let us know!

You can find Lisa’s impressions here!