Although the terms ‘British’ and ‘feel-good’ might seem kind of contradictory, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel manages to be both of these things at once. From Shakespeare In Love director John Madden comes a heart-warming tale of a group of pension-age Brits who leave the grey landscape of broken Britain behind for the sun-drenched utopia (or so they hope) that is India.
Madden brings together an impressive cast of British talent to represent a motley crew of grey-haired eccentrics. The larger than life characters soon find themselves entwined in one another’s lives. The likes of Ronald Pickup’s sex-obsessed geriatric Norman offer a constant supply of belly-laughs while characters like Judi Dench’s recently bereaved Evelyn give the film a poignant dramatic feel.
Considering the age of the main characters, the film does deal with issues which are probably most relevant to the older demographic. Big questions about death, loss, health and marriage are addressed as well as tipping a light-hearted nod to the more intrinsically comic side-effects of old age: technophobia, dealing with ageism, sexuality and hip-replacements.
Many a nervous laugh was heard whenever Maggie Smith’s Muriel let out another of her old-fashioned, casually-racist remarks. But the film doesn’t just make a sensation out of the borderline-xenophobic tendencies of the pensioner. Instead it strips away her prejudices and, by the end, she’s absolved of her ignorant ways.
All of the characters in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel have some form of character arc – they clearly change from a flawed person to a more improved one throughout the film. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was based on Deborah Moggach’s These Foolish Things and you can tell the film is based on a novel due to the richness of characters and plot.
The film can verge on being a bit corny at times and the delivery of some lines can seem a little hammy. The saccharine quality of the film can also be worsened by the sickly charm of Bill Nighy, but it’s all totally forgivable because it’s ultimately just light-hearted, entertaining cinema.
As the credits rolled in a packed GFT on Friday night, the cinema burst into a round of applause from the audience - admittedly mostly consisting of the 50+age range. However, to say The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is meant exclusively for this demographic would be a great injustice to younger film fans - anyone with a heart will find something to like about this film.
MORE ON GFF 2012
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- For news, listings and tickets visit the Glasgow Film Festival website.
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