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Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont - Joan Plowright, Rupert Friend, Zoe Tapper, Dan Ireland

Threat advisory: High - High risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Life is just waiting for you to invite it in.

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont centres around an elegant elderly lady - Mrs Palfrey (Joan Plowright) - who, after being recently widowed, moves from Scotland to London to be near to her 26-year-old grandson, Desmond. When Desmond fails to return any of her several phone calls, or visit her at the resident hotel she is staying (The Claremont), fate brings her together with a young writer, Ludovic Meyer (Rupert Friend), after she has an accident outside his basement flat.

Eventually, Ludo ends up helping Mrs Palfrey by playing a charade - pretending to be her grandson, so that the other off-beat elderly residents of the hotel believe that she hasn't been lying, and that she really does have a grandson.

The two newly found friends discover they have a lot more in common with each other then they do with other people their own age.

Ludo inadvertently leads Mrs Palfrey through her past; Mrs Palfrey inadvertently leads Ludo to his future. The young writer finally finds the story he has been looking for all his young life - and Mrs Palfrey finds the "grandson" she never knew she had. Thus begins a deep-rooted friendship that is far reaching, and everlasting.

Along the way, a few problems arise when her real grandson shows up at the hotel.

Theatrical propaganda posters

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont image

Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

  • Film drama UK elderly grandmother friendship grandson hotel heart-warming London

Persons of interest

  • Joan Plowright .... Mrs Palfrey
  • Rupert Friend .... Ludovic Meyer
  • Zoe Tapper .... Gwendolyn
  • Anna Massey .... Mrs Arbuthnot
  • Robert Lang .... Mr Osborne
  • Marcia Warren .... Mrs Post
  • Georgina Hale .... Mrs Burton
  • Millicent Martin .... Mrs De Salis
  • Michael Culkin .... Willie De Salis
  • Anna Carteret .... Elizabeth
  • Lorcan O'Toole .... Desmond
  • Timothy Bateson .... Summers
  • Clare Higgins .... Mrs Meyer
  • Emma Pike .... Violet
  • Carl Proctor .... The Manager
  • Sophie Linfield .... Rosie
  • Olivia Caffrey .... Nurse Clara
  • Elizabeth Taylor .... Author
  • Ruth Sacks .... Screenwriter
  • Dan Ireland .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

You don't have to be an Anglophile to watch Mrs Palfrey in the Claremont but you do if you want to enjoy it.

Joan Plowright presents Mrs P with all the talent and skill that you'd expect from a grand dame of the theatre; the old girl is pointed, plucky and imperfect. Rupert Friend, meanwhile, is what would've happened if Orlando Bloom had been born in England instead of Ireland. He takes the concept of the sensitive, artistic, sexy Englishman and nails it to the wall. Only an Englishman can be called Rupert and come off sexy.

The story is described, highlighted and encapsulated perfectly by the title: Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont. It's the kind of film that you can take your mother and grandmother to see: it's a delight, with that wicked twist of dry English humour and bleak reality.

Tissues required.

The drama, UK movie Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont is directed by Dan Ireland and stars Joan Plowright, Rupert Friend, Zoe Tapper.

Media intelligence (DVD)

  • Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0
  • Languages: English
  • Picture: Widescreen (16:9)
  • Special features:
    • Commentaries: Dan Ireland (Director)
    • Featurettes: Joan Plowright's acceptance speech at the AARP
    • Trailers: Theatrical

Government security censorship classification

PG (Mild themes, infrequent mild coarse language)

Surveillance time

108 minutes (1:48 hours)

Not for public release in Australia before date

Film: 26 October 2006
DVD rental: 16 May 2007
DVD retail: 12 September 2007

Cinema surveillance images

Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont imageMrs Palfrey at the Claremont image

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