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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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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 26-30 of 96
 A precious gem June 27, 2007
Allan M. Lees (Novato, CA USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Other reviewers have more or less summarized the plot of this film: set in the days before World War II commences, two spinster sisters have their genteel lives disrupted by a near-dead young man washed up on the shore in front of their Cornish home. As they nurse him back to health, the younger sister falls helplessly in love with him.
So many reviewers have chosen to focus on the age of the actresses, yet what is really important here is the sparse script, the light-handed direction, and the consumate skill with which the three leads and the supporting cast play their roles. It is quite heartbreaking to see Ursula going so hopelessly through the pangs of a love she should have felt in her teens or early twenties, when now she is in her sixties. The young men she would have known and loved all died in the trenches of World War One, so her naive heart is helpless in the face of her first love. As she comments towards the end of the movie, "it's not fair."
This is a beautiful miniature of a movie, akin to a Vermeer in the way it captures all the tiny details of someone else's life and touches us with the humanity of what we all share: our vulnerable hearts. We see the various characters trying to pursue as best they can their various agendas; yet in the end it is the one person who does not appear to pursue anything who ends up winning all. The young man Andreas, who months before was washed up on a foreign beach, ends up performing a masterwork in London to the acclaim of all. He is really just the mechanism through means of which the hearts of others are variously exposed.
Maggie Smith and Judi Dench turn in performances that are breathtaking in their craft and apparent simplicity. If Oscars were actually handed out for acting, they each would have scored Best Leading Actress. This movie is a masterwork of understatement, a poignant triumph.
 The Ladies are magnificent - but they always are June 17, 2007
Galina (Virginia, USA)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
"Ladies in Lavender" (2004) is a film starring two of the best British actresses, Dame Judy Dench and Dame Maggie Smith as two lonely sisters, a widow and an old maid who live quietly and uneventfully in their cottage on the seaside in Cornwall, England. The film takes place in 1936 before the WWII begins. One morning, the sisters discover a young man, almost a boy injured and washed ashore near their home and their lives were changed forever. The sisters take the boy in and care for him. As time passes, they learn that Andrea was on the ship heading to America where he hoped to become a professional musician. Andrea is extremely talented violinist and one day, his playing attracts the attention of a young Russian woman -painter, Olga who lives in the village. Olga's brother is a world renowned violinist and she is ready to offer the boy the chance of his life but the sisters, especially Ursula (Dench) seems very reluctant to let Andrea and Olga communicate. Ursula who never been married feels deep tenderness, warmth, and longing for Andrea that she has difficulty to hide. Her sister who is very close and compassionate to her sees quite well what goes on but she also understands that some dreams would always stay just the beautiful dreams...
The main reason to see the movie is acting and chemistry between two beloved actresses, both in their 70s and both on the top of their profession. As for the story of two lonely elderly sisters in their coastal home, it was told better in Lindsay Anderson's "Whales in August" (1987) that starred Bette Davis and Lillian Gish, and Anderson's film does not have a young foreign boy to make it compelling and moving. The verbal and silent communication between two sisters as played by Gish and Davis makes the earlier movie a quiet and poignant gem. As for the unrequited tender vulnerable love that comes when one least expects it and that makes the life of an older person heaven and hell at the same time, watch "Death in Venice", the tragic masterpiece by Luchino Visconti.
They don't make them like this anymore May 29, 2007
James S. Belfiore (Watertown CT USA)
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
Here is a wonderful experience for people who still respect old age.
The director (Mr. Dance) has prepared a feast both for the eye and ear.
My wife and I rented the video and just had to have it in our collection
so as to savor the experience again and share it with our friends. Yes,
we are over seventy. Try this film, you will be delighted.
Great actresses=great movie! May 7, 2007
Sean Hallissey (Portland, OR USA)
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
Ladies in Lavender features 2 great actresses and a delightful story set on the English coast. The photography is wonderful and this adds to the enjoyment of the movie. Ladies in Lavender is a wonderful way to spend an evening. You will not be disappointed!
 Dull and ridiculous May 3, 2007
Michelle Polk (Mississippi, USA)
2 out of 16 found this review helpful
What would she do with him if she did catch him? Pass this one by if you see it on the shelf!
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