Mr. Movie: Joan Plowright Part 2

Of course there are more good movies starring Dame Joan Plowright! And most of them are ensconced in this article.

I’m going to start with the last movie of hers of any note because a couple of readers have mentioned it. Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (2005) is just a wonderful film. Plowright plays the title character, an elderly lady nearly forgotten by her own family and friends. She has an accidental fall outside the flat of Ludovic Meyer, a young writer. Their unlikely friendship ripens as the days go by and each discovers more things alike than not about the other. He leads her gently through her past and she inadvertently leads him to his future.
 

The Dressmaker (1988) is one of those quiet little British dramas that seem to just get under your skin. Plowright is Nellie and Billie Whitelaw is her sister Margo. They lead a somber existence in a small apartment, trying to guide their somewhat fragile niece who is having an affair with an American soldier.

Avalon (1990) is one of Barry Avalon’s Baltimore films, and it is really good. The Kachinsky family are Polish Jewish immigrants who land in Baltimore and have various degrees of success. Plowright is the matriarch, Eva, stuck with both feet in the past and refusing to acclimate herself to her new surroundings. When her daughter-in-law Ann (Elizabeth Perkins) learns to drive a car, Eva not only disdains the accomplishment but refuses to ride with her. She takes the streetcar instead. This is one of the best films about the immigrant experience in America.

Dame Joan got her only Oscar nomination for her acting in Enchanted April (1992). She lost to Marissa Tomei for My Cousin Vinny. Two English ladies, complete strangers to each other, decide to rent an Italian castle based on an ad they see in a travel magazine. They advertise for two more ladies to help share expenses and enjoy the castle and its surroundings. It would be hard to find four more mismatched women. Though some of their life stories intersect in interesting ways, most of them begin as total unknowns. As time goes by, their stories begin to meld in unforeseen ways. By the end of the film, everyone has happily found her niche within the group and one senses they will be friends for life.

There are many productions of Jane Eyre. The 1968 version is as good as any, with William Hurt as Mr. Rochester, Anna Paquin as the young Jane, Charlotte Gainsbourg as the mature Jane, and Plowright as Mrs. Fairfax. Jane is a poor orphan who escapes the dreadful orphanage to get a job as a governess. She is employed to take care of the unwanted daughter of Mr. Rochester. Mrs. Fairfax isn’t enchanted by Jane, but it turns out that Mr. Rochester has been paying attention. Jane sticks with him when his luck turns really bad.         
 

You can also see Joan to good advantage in the curious Tea With Mussolini (1999). 

All of the movies in this article are for grownups.