By Jeff Hartke, December 6, 2005

If you love great acting, you can’t do much better than Mrs. Henderson Presents, a showcase for the masterful talents of Dame Judi Dench (JDENC). Director Stephen Frears (SFREA) – or perhaps producer and fellow lead Bob Hoskins (BHOSK) – has assembled an impressive cast which also includes Christopher Guest (CGUES) in a delightfully uptight role, but this really is Dench’s show.

Oh, and if you happend to be one of those that don't appreciate a good performance, there are plenty of naked breasts on display to consider and compare. Frears & Co. are very accomodating that way.


The film opens with Dench's character Laura Henderson as a new widow, returned to England from India after many years abroad. Her hunger for life has not diminished in the least, and she is quickly bored with the usual lifestyle pursued by society women of a certain age. For her amusement she purchases a revue theater slated for demolition. Naturally she needs someone to manage the production, and so enters Vivien van Dam, played by Hoskins.

Sparks fly as the two strong-willed people immediately begin a battle of wits, a struggle that continues through the rest of the film. Hoskins' fine masculine performance is an excellent foil for Dench's femininity, and their interplay is the film's heart and soul. Oh sure, there are various subplots that crop up and Hitler displays his bad taste by bombing London, but these are generally ponderous. Many are completely contrived, including a series of comic set-pieces that look as if they were lifted straight from I Love Lucy. Worst of all, they distract from the real business of the film, its characters.

While we are on the subject, kudos must go to the strong performances from the remainder of the cast. Christopher Guest does an amazing turn as an emotionally clenched Lord Cromer, so perfect in its inception that I never once recalled that he starred in This is Spinal Tap. Thelma Barlow gives a splendid turn as a flighty society woman who is Henderson's best friend. Will Young brings charisma and a delightful tenor voice as the revue's main star. Apparently he won the European equivalent of American Idol, and its easy to see why.


But as a diamond is all the more beautiful when surrounded by other precious stones, so Dench's performance is only enhanced by the cast. She inhabits Laura Henderson and makes her a fiery, determined woman whose lust for life is fiercely undimmed by age or social niceties. One bravura scene will serve as illustration. We see a young woman, coaxed by Mrs. Henderson to come out of her shell, and her date with a handsome soldier. The evening is obviously going well, the two head towards what promises to be a delightful conclusion - and the scene cuts to Dench, alone in front of a mirror, posing with ostrich feathers in conscious imitation of the girl.

Although it is faintly ridiculous - not to say embarassing - to see a woman in her 70s vamping in such a way, it is also inspiring. We have learned too much of her character to believe that she looks in the mirror and sees anything but the woman she is. She sees what we see, a woman long past the age of allure. Despite this - and because of it - she still poses this way and that, her drive to squeeze every last bit out of life lighting up her face, and the screen.

Mrs. Henderson Presents opens in New York and Los Angeles December 9.