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 enlarge | Director: Charles Dance
Actors: Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Natascha Mcelhone, Daniel Bruehl, Miriam Margolyes
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.94
Buy Used: $3.89
You Save: $11.05 (74%)
New (51) Used (35) from $3.89
Rating:  96 reviews
Sales Rank: 6660
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), German (Original Language), Polish (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 99
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 104 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: COLD13106D
ISBN: 1404914331
UPC: 043396131064
EAN: 9781404914339
ASIN: B000BITVAG
Theatrical Release Date: 2005
Release Date: December 6, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Showing reviews 16-20 of 96
 Sloooow, and never reaches its destination December 12, 2007
Catherine Snider (Lafayette, Colorado United States)
0 out of 8 found this review helpful
Awful movie. Sloooow pacing with a bunch of little twists that never panned out. This story about a May/December love mismatch has potential, but the writer/director put way too many barriers in the way - besides the age difference there's also a language barrier and a different-career barrier (he's a budding violinist, she stays home and gardens). Plus there's the creepiness factor in that the two old ladies practically kept him prisoner, refusing to let the authorities know they'd found him, apparently unconcerned that someone somewhere might be worried about him. And why make the pretty stranger seem so evil when all she wanted was to take the fellow under her wing and help him fly? Why add the pretense of danger (Oh no! They might be German spies!) if you aren't going to do anything with it? This story couldn't really decide where it wanted to go so it meandered around for a while and ended up going nowhere.
 Wonderful and Moving December 12, 2007
Inga Bishop
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I loved this movie! It is so touching that it brought me to tears. I am in a stage of my life where I am dealing with some of the emotions and angst that come with aging, and I felt such wrenching emotions for Ursula. I love it when a movie can make me feel like that. Maggie Smith and Judi Dench are perfect as sisters - their tussles, jealousies, and caring for one another. This is an unusual kind of love story, from many angles, and mixing the violin and different cultures with it made it even more interesting. The seaside setting is gorgeous. I highly recommend this movie for people who like good stories, human interest, great acting, and emotional tugging of the heartstrings.
 Ladies In Lavender November 24, 2007
Allan John Parker (Perth, Western Australia)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Dame Maggie Smith is very strong but the part Dame Judi Dench is given is 'wet' - for it does nothing to show her true acting/filmic talents (as the strong, powerful, dominating woman). However, the settings are great and Andreas the stranded violinist plays his part convincingly. Other than falling down in the area of the 'tormented older vicarious female lover' role that Judi is given, this is still a fine film and well worth watching. It rates as one of those Dench films that you will talk about and recommend to fellow enthusiasts.
Dench,Smith AND Miriam Margolyes in THREE roles of a lifetime October 18, 2007
KerrLines (Baltimore,MD)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
LADIES IN LAVENDER was so fascinating in subject matter,soundtrack and skillful acting when I saw it the two times in the theatre,I just knew that this was a DVD that had to be in my collection.
Judi Dench and Maggie Smith are my two favorite actresses.To see them together again ( A ROOM WITH A VIEW) is to watch two undeniable pros in action.This is a film about feelings,and more is communicated by facial expressions and small glances than with words.This is how the great silent screen stars did it...they "had faces" to quote from SUNSET BOULEVARD.
Two spinster sisters in Cornish England, somewhere before WW2 have their lives unexpectedly interrupted when a young man,a Polish foreigner washes up on shore at their cliffside family home.Janet (Smith) and Ursula (Dench) take him under their wings to nurse him to health.They discover,quite comically that he is Polish.Janet discovers that Andreas (Daniel Bruhl)can speak German,so all initial communication goes through these two;but we know from the first glance that Ursula is in love.The subject matter here is that no matter how old we get we can still have "feelings",not always sexual,that are like first love. This is Judi Dench's forte.She knows how to play this character who is so complex, and yet so "naive,...not old and foolish."I never tire of this film. Each viewing gets better and deeper.Amazon sells this gem as low as $3.50.What a bargain to see the cream of the crop at their best.
There is a THIRD woman in LADIES that I would like to give special mention; Miriam Margolyes as Dorcas the housekeeper is my all time favorite supporting role character actress. This English-Bellarussian-gay actor never ceases to amaze me at just how good she is in interpreting different characters;from the High Society of New York in THE AGE OF INNOCENCE to the world of the Hungarian Jew in SUNSHINE to the madcap musical THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS,Margolyes with her unforgettable face and bulk is the true comic relief in LADIES.She keeps the flick from becoming too serious.She is a marvel.Her filmography is astounding for its volume.
 A rare Dench misstep. September 21, 2007
Robert P. Beveridge (Cleveland, OH)
2 out of 7 found this review helpful
Ladies in Lavender (Charles Dance, 2004)
I will watch anything Dame Judi Dench is in, a rule that has rarely steered me wrong. While I can't say it entirely did in this case, it certainly wasn't one of the better movies I saw this weekend.
Dench and the equally charming Maggie Smith (whose legacy will now forever be tied with the Harry Potter movies, the poor girl) play spinster sisters who rescue a Polish lad, Andrea Marowski (The Bourne Ultimatum's Daniel Bruhl), when he washes up on their beach after being shipwrecked. Both sisters are drawn to the boy romantically, but find themselves competing for his affections with a stranger in town, Olga Daniloff (Solaris' Natasha McElhone). What's a woman to do when the competition for her romantic interest is fifty years younger?
While it's impossible to fault most of the aspects of this movie (the acting, the cinematography, etc., are all stellar), Dance's script (based on a William Locke short story) and direction are not terribly accomplished. Dance has over the years stamped himself as a fine, fine actor, but you know the old saying. The script leaves barely enough of the story for the viewer to get a handle on what's going on, but doesn't give us characters strong enough to entirely drive the movie. That said, Dance does seem to have an eye for certain shots (the movie's final shot, while somewhat predictable, is still enough to redeem some of the movie's shallower flaws). Perhaps a bit of experience and a co-writer will make it work for him.
Interesting, kind of. Only for Judi Dench completists, though. **
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