Mrs Henderson Presents

 

Mrs Henderson Presents 2005

• Director: Stephen Frears
• Seen by this director: Victoria & Abdul, Philomena, The Queen, Dirty Pretty Things, High Fidelity, The Van, Mary Reilly, Hero, The Grifters, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, Prick Up Your Ears, My Beautiful Laundromat
• Based on the book by Sheila Van Damm
• Cast: Judi Dench, Bob Hoskins, Will Young, Christopher Guest, Kelly Reilly, Thelma Barlow, Toby Jones
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Judi Dench – Victoria and Abdul, The Hollow Crown, Spectre, Hotel Marigold 2, Vicious, Philomena, Hotel Marigold, My Week with Marilyn, Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides, Jane Eyre, Cranford, Nine, Quantum of Silence, Notes on a Scandal, Casino Royale, Ladies in Lavender, Die Another Day, The Shipping News, Chocolat, The World is Not Enough, Tea with Mussolini, Shakespeare in Love, Tomorrow Never Dies, Mrs Brown, Hamlet, Golden Eye, Middlemarch, Henry V, A Handful of Dust, A Room with a View, Macbeth
• Bob Hoskins – Doomsday, Paris je t’aime, Last Orders, David Copperfield, Felicia’s Journey, Hook, Mona Lisa, Brazil, Othello, Rock Follies
• Christopher Guest – The Invention of Lying, A Might Wind, Waiting for Guffman, Spinal Tap
• Kelly Reilly – Sherlock Holmes Game of Shadows, Sherlock Holmes, The Libertine, Last Orders
• Thelma Barlow – Doctor Who, David Copperfield
• Toby Jones - The Man Who Knew Infinity, Hunger Games, Snow White and the Huntsman, My Week with Marilyn, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Doctor Who, Creation, Frost/Nixon, The Mist, Amazing Grace, Infamous, Finding Neverland, Ladies in Lavender, Hotel Splendide, Ever After, Les Misérables, Naked, Orlando
• Why? Dench
• Seen:  Once before. Now 25 October 2020      

       London, 1937. Newly widowed Mrs Henderson (Dench) is told by her friend (Barlow) that widows have hobbies like embroidery, do charity, take lovers, buy things.

       She buys a closed-down theatre. It needs renovation and a manager. She hires the unemployed, brilliant and opinionated Vivian Van Damm (Hoskins). Mrs Henderson herself is completely ignorant of the theatre, filled with the snobbish prejudices of her class, filthy rich, impulsive. And opinionated.

       The theatre is a great success because they provide nude tableaus behind the revues.

       Much of the film is an amusing trifle. It turns serious but it tries to end as a feel-good. Pleasant entertainment, based on a true story.

 3 * of 5 (Hal gives it 4.)