My Old Lady

Dir: Israel Horovitz

2014

*****

I noticed the release of Israel Horovitz's My Old Lady back in 2014 and I avoided it. The poster made it look like the sort of comedy-light British film that was more suited to Sunday night TV rather than the cinema and I decided that it just wasn't my sort of film. I judged a book by its cover but didn't overrule a viewing should it be on TV. A couple of years later, it was indeed on TV (a sign that it didn't do that well financially) and I gave it a go. The premise was clear fairly early; man is left a sizable Parisian apartment by his late father, travels to Paris from the US, only to find a little old lady living there. The French have some wonderful laws that seem strange to anyone outside of the country and one of them is something called a 'viager' which is an old system for buying and selling apartments that can mean that the ownership of land or a property can last for the duration of the tenants life. In legal terms, it is an estate in real property that ends at death and ownership then reverts to the original owner or another person that they might have left it to, in this case Mathias 'Jim' Gold (Kevin Kline) is left the apartment by his father, who gave a viager to 92 year old Mathilde Girard (played by Maggie Smith). Gold and his father were never close and so he sees it as something of a test of character, which it turns out is exactly what it is. So, a loud and largely unsympathetic (and broke) man arrives to find an elderly, but young spirited lady living at the house and all he has to do is wait for her to die to get the house. Huge A Fish Called Wanda vibes were calling out in the first twenty minutes, especially as Kilne's Jim Gold has a lot like an older version of Otto West. Kline is Kline, Smith is Smith and then Kristin Scott Thomas turns up as Smith's daughter (and is very Kristin Scott Thomas-like) and the film matches the horrible poster. I was at this point just happy that Dominique Pinon was in it, as I'm a big fan of his. Then, around twenty-five minutes in, secrets are revealed, the plot thickens and suddenly what was a stale comedy drama, becomes a suspenseful drama mystery, with genuine funny moments but more importantly, two of the best performances I've seen in quite some time. Kevin Kline is phenomenal as his character starts to unwind and reveal himself and I'm not sure he's ever been better. From then on in, the story was compelling and original with any whisper of cliché of predictability thrown out the fenêtre. I feel Horovitz played quick the unsuspecting trick with this film, although I'm not sure how anyone could really get suckered in, so I'm glad I stumbled into it blind. This is not the light-hearted bumbling comedy drama I thought it was, it's actually one of my favourite films of 2014 and a reminder to never, ever judge a film by its poster. Kline, Smith and Scott Thomas are all brilliant and the film deserves high praise and to be seen by the many people who probably overlooked it like I did.