My Old Lady (2014): Comme Ci, Comme Ça

You’d think that, with a cast featuring three masterful actors like Maggie Smith,  Kevin Kline and Kristin Scott Thomas, My Old Lady would be a great film. But you’d be wrong. Instead, it’s just okay: a predictable and somewhat creepy story elevated to “interesting” by great actors doing good work.

This is the first motion picture for writer/director Israel Horovitz, who has adapted his successful play of the same name for the screen. So far as I can tell, Horovitz has made few concessions to the change of medium.  The story unfolds like a play, taking place mostly in a couple of rooms of a lovely Parisian apartment, albeit with a couple of sojourns out into the city – to a real estate office, the banks of the Seine, and a coffeehouse.

The plot hinges on an idiosyncrasy of French real estate law known as a “viager” contract. A viager is an apartment that is sold subject to the right of the prior owner to remain in residence for life. Not only that, but the buyer gets to pay monthly stipend to the “seller” during his/her residency, i.e. for life. Why would anyone want to buy a viager? Perhaps as a gamble, in the hope that the discounted purchase price will pay off if the tenant demises relatively early. Or, maybe, as here, with  the intention of assisting the tenant, out of generosity or affection.

The title of this picture is a bit of a problem – clever, sure, seeing as it does involve Maggie Smith, who is the elderly viager tenant in an apartment that Kevin Kline’s character just inherited from his deceased, formerly estranged father. But it denotes a light comedy or farce is in store, when in fact the story is more of a drama, with some darkly amusing bits courtesy of Kline. There’s some dry-eyed sentimentality, as well, so I'd call it a mawkish dramedy.

Kline is Mathias, a 50-something (or 60-something, I’m no longer sure) American alcoholic, depressive failure/disappointment who, despite his well-earned negative outlook, comes across as charming and amusing, at least at first. Kline has come to Paris without a sou, so to speak, with the idea that he will liquidate this windfall apartment, pocket the cash, and, I guess, ride the proceeds for as long as he can. But he discovers that old Mathilde (Smith) is still in the place, and she quickly, though amiably, sets him straight about her rights and his responsibilities. Her daughter Chloe (Thomas), a spinster schoolteacher, also 50-something, lives there as well. While Mathilde seems sweet and even welcoming, Chloe smells a rat, a threat, and is hostile to Mathias.

No matter, Mathias plans to sell the apartment anyway, even at a discount, the old lady and her daughter be damned. Alas, we know from the minute we see Kline and Thomas together, that his attitude will change. Mathias, despite his alleged dissolute past, is too good looking, too charming; and Chloe, the supposed spinster, is too lovely and sensitive to remain an adversary. As the back-story fills in, with a relationship between Mathias’ father and Mathilde revealed, the surprises will be few. There is one, though: dear old Maggie Smith’s Mathilde is the true villain of the piece.

Although the story gets a C, the actors are fun to watch, especially Kevin Kline, who seems to relish his character’s sad-sack depravity, and turns in a memorable funny-sad performance. He is aided by, far and away the best lines in the script, to be sure, but he pulls it off grandly. Thomas is fine as well, although her character is underdeveloped by Horovitz’s screenplay. Has Maggie Smith ever been less than interesting? Her characterization of a seemingly sweet elder lady, becoming increasingly defensive as her narcissistic amorality is eventually revealed, is pitch perfect.  I must also recommend the sly performance of Dominique Pinon, as a seen-it-all real estate agent who befriends and advises Mathias.

Even with all this talent, while I watched My Old Lady, I never believed it. My critical reaction only increased after I left and thought about it. Whether it was the predictable plot, lackluster direction, or Je ne sais quoi, tout ensemble this picture fell flat.

If you see it, do so for the performances, and don’t expect more. You might want to await its release on dvd, which I’d guess will be by January 2015.

In general release.