This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
11/01/2018 12:01 AMHow refreshing to sit down with four women and not be interrupted by cell phones or other social media, and instead listen in on conversations that are insightful, funny, and luxuriant with stage, cinema, and personal histories. In the documentary, Tea with the Dames, Dames Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright, Eileen Atkins, and Judi Dench, all gifted actresses, gather in the British countryside to share stories of their lives and memories of working. The viewer joins them at the table.
What is so pleasing about the four are their mutual sensibilities, and the ability to laugh at their foibles. They jab at each other affectionately. Tea with the Dames is packed with so many quotable lines that they could stand alone without the spliced-in stage and movie clips and early interviews. But, scenes from their work do frame their experiences. Director Roger Michell (Notting Hill, Venus) assembles the backdrops strategically along the actresses’ narratives, giving glimpses of their early years and revisiting key performances.
Each, having attained the status of dame for her service to the arts, began a career in the 1950s and trained in Shakespeare under the luminaries of the time, such as Laurence Olivier. Plowright later became the actor’s third wife. The actresses have either appeared in or auditioned for (or didn’t have the courage to audition for) different versions of plays or films produced at the time, such as Hamlet and Cleopatra. And they are all still working actresses, except Plowright, who has lost her eyesight to macular degeneration, but retains a very keen mind. Atkins has appeared on TV’s Doc Martin and The Crown, Smith in Gosford Park (with Atkins) and TV’s Downton Abbey, and Dench in James Bond films, such as Skyfall and in more traditional roles, such as playing Queen Victoria in Victoria & Abdul.
Now they reminisce about “their merry war” as Smith puts it, and sitting together is such a natural way to put careers filled with struggles and longtime friendships on display. After so many years, they seem so at home in front of the camera that no one would guess during certain projects “all days are scary,” as Smith acknowledges.
Their memories roll along and the only silent moment occurs after Plowright talks about being able to cry on cue. Olivier once commented that one night during an expected crying scene on stage, he couldn’t “reach it,” and so left the crying out. Plowright disagrees with his decision.
“You find the way to make it happen so it appears spontaneous, and that’s the difference between actual truth and illusion,” she says; a comfortable silence surrounds them.
When the women are asked to give advice to their younger selves, the dames thoughtfully plunge right in. They each offer tidbits, either tongue-in-cheek or a little ruefully.
Smith ends with, “Whatever it is, it’s too late.”
But of course, nothing seems too late for these women, who continue to be vital.
Accompanied by photos of the young, dreamy-eyed actresses, Dench recites a passage from Shakespeare’s The Tempest in a mellow, slightly wistful voice, “These our actors...were all spirits and are melted into air...We are such stuff as dreams are made on...”
Of course, these four aren’t spirits. They still impart their treasury of tales to everyone. The audience just has to listen as carefully as they listen to one another.
Unrated