:
Judi Dench,
Judi Dench,
Bob Hoskins,
more...
:
Stuart Renfrew,
Stuart Renfrew,
Stephen Frears,
more...
see all cast/crew...
: 
: Weinstein Company
: Drama, Foreign, Costume Drama/Period Piece, British Drama
: 103 min.
: English
: English, Spanish
see additional details...
|
|
A recently widowed eccentric with money to burn and no intentions of settling down enlists the aide of a showbiz professional to transform a run-down theater in Soho into London's most innovative entertainment hot spot in director Stephen Frears' cinematic account of the groundbreaking Windmill Theater. The year is 1937 and, despite having recently lost her husband, 69-year-old Laura Henderson (Judy Dench) remains as ambitious and vital as ever. Aghast at her friend Lady Conway's (Thelma Barlow) suggestion that she take up a mundane hobby such as diamond collecting to pass the time, Mrs. Henderson instead shocks her well-to-do social circle by purchasing the ramshackle Windmill Theater in the heart of downtown Soho. Unafraid to take a risk in the venture, yet lacking the experience needed to run the theater, Mrs. Henderson brings in showbiz veteran Vivian Van Damm (Bob Hoskins) to line up an opening act that will set the stage ablaze. When the ever-curious Mrs. Henderson's intrusive spying begins to impede on Mr. Van Damm's creative progress, the frustrated theater manager has her banished from rehearsals. Though Van Damm's innovative idea to stage an unending stream of entertainment dubbed "Revudeville" proves a wild and profitable success, the Windmill begins to suffer when other local theaters quickly follow suit. Now faced with the prospect of seeing her once-lucrative endeavor fall by the wayside due to the unoriginality of the copycats who surround her, Mrs. Henderson decides to show audiences something they've never seen before by making the Windmill the first theater to feature nude female entertainers live on-stage. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
|
| Stiff Uppers--and Songs
by talltale
April 22, 2006 - 9:01 PM PDT
|
|
|
2 out of 2 members found this review helpful
|
Stiff upper-lipped and all the more moving because of it, MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS tells the story of the rich widow who decided to reopen a closed legit theatre in London just before WWII and kept it going, under rather difficult circumstances, all during wartime.
Director Stephen Frears rarely makes a misstep in his movies, and this one is no exception. Rather than adding on a "romance" between the main characters (a terrific Hoskins and Dench) or making too much of any of the small subplots in order to hype the drama or tension, Frears and writer Martin Sherman are happy to simply give us the story, complete with delightful musical numbers of the time--all quite to-scale and with voices that sound very much like those of the 1940s. If no new ground is broken here, neither is the audience subjected to mind-numbing cliché. Consequently, the story seems fresh and surprising, even as it takes its typical course.
All the young women portraying the girls who appear nude on stage (the theatre's drawing card) are quite good, and one--Kelly Reilly--is more than that. Over the past five years the lovely and talented Ms Reilly, who here plays Maureen, has made one wonderful appearance after another in which she's "discovered" over and over again: "Last Orders," L'Auberge Espagnole," (and its sequel "Russian Dolls," yet to be released here), "Dead Bodies," "The Libertine," and "Pride & Prejudice." Maybe "Mrs. Henderson" is the film that will help her move on from mere "discovery" to leading lady. It's about time. |
|
|
GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 7.47)
53 Votes
add to list 
|
|
|
Your cart
DGood
© 2006 All Media Guide, LLC. Portions of content provided by All Movie Guide®,
a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC.