Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Film is an extraordinary media in which amazing visual and literary achievements are recorded and enjoyed, which lends itself to artistry in many ways.
Movies are an entirely different aspect of film making all together. Movies in the commercial film studios are made for profit and good business. We read that sex and violence sells but what really sells these 2 areas of delight is the promise of fantasy fulfilled. Movies indulge us in our fantasies and plays them out to endings that are satisfying and sometimes seem almost real if
we abandon ourselves enough.
A dear fantasy held universally from the beginning of man is the denial of death. It is a favorite theme used in countless ways, and is one of the most active of mental meanderings of the aging process.
The denial of death is the enticing theme of a comedy playing all cities in America right now in a delightful fantasy called the Best Exotic Hotel Marigold.
In the beginning we are introduced to 7 characters, all of whom are at a place in their life where a change is necessary. The change is due to income loss or business or health failure in some way, but that is only the surface .something has alerted these people to instincts that announce they have limited time.
Douglas and Jean have invested their money in their daughters start up company, and it never started up so they are without the money they are accustomed to having; Evelyn was married for 42 years until her husband died of a sudden heart attack. He left her with so much debt that she had to sell their home in order to take care of those obligations.Graham, a retired judge had a love affair 40 years ago with a man that he never got over,and feeling the time left to him might be measured in months, wants to see this lover once more, Norman to whom sexual activity is the essence of life feels that energy ebbing,and thinks a move to a new place will reinvigorate his sexual abilities, and Madge who has had not much luck in love, is frightened to see herself alone in these last years, and thinks a change of scene will bring a new romance.Muriel needs a new hip. In england there is a long waiting list, in India there is immediate surgery, and the cost a fraction to that in London.
All of them have important financial limitations and are looking for an affordable place to live. Individually they happen on a brochure that advertises the exotic Hotel Marigold for the elderly and the beautiful. The elderly is the hidden part they don t look at, but the beautiful is a word with which they can identify and they are attracted.
The advertisement continues with the beauty of an old hotel that was home to royalty, a palace. They will have luxurious quarters, efficient and lavish services, and the fulfillment of all their heart desires in Jaipur, India. Our 7 heros and heroines live in England.
They make the enthusiastic decision to move to India and we see the 7 of them share a row of seats at the
airport and the journey begins.It is not an easy trip. There are delays and changes all along the way and they have a variety of transportation modes; they fly, they are on a train, they take a bus, and finally they arrive at the hotel in a little boxed motorized wagon that takes only 1 or 2 or them on a bumpy jolting trip through the streets of Jaipur.This trip symbolizes the journey of their life till now.
The hotel is more than dilapidated; it is so run down and worn that it should be out of business. Madge is given a room without a door that she rightly calls an alcove, and Douglas and Jean find their dust filled room a home for scores of pigeons.
This is offset by the enthusiastic youthful manager, Sonny. Sonny is a passionate Indian in his 20 s, the youngest of 3 sons, who decided to maintain his dead fathers hotel, and to make it into a paying business. His descriptions of the place in which they now live, the foods they are about to eat, the new life they have decided on is filled with marvelous adjectives detailing the superiority and extraordinary of all they see, and touch, and invite into their lives.
The majestic but decaying hotel is the symbol of their bodies and their lives.This is where they are at in their life journey. their doors are broken and gone. Where there was blood and verve and energy and ambition is now an empty space for the fluttering of pigeons. They are not beautiful physical specimens. They are wrinkled and old. Muriel came because she needs a new hip in London there is a long waiting list, and the cost is prohibitive, Our romantic female lead, Evelyn is overweight and dumpy. Graham the retired judge is paunchy.,
But ah, the attempt to deny all this sparks the hope to find the proverbial. fountain of youth.
Going back in time brings us to a history when the British were powerful and important in India. they ruled.
If we return to the past, we have our youth. The past owns our youthful years. the past has mom and dad…toy guns and dolls and magnificent food for which we had enormous appetites.For these British characters, in this British movie, that return to childhood is symbolized by decision to go to India where all that power and glory did happen.
The decaying old hotel in Jaipur India is the embodiment of these old people where they have come to find their youth, mom ,dad, The Indian street filled with jay walking camels, cows, chickens, people walking tall with baskets on their heads, children playing ball , musicians playing their instruments, hundreds of bazaars selling every imaginable item, magicians, political speakers, peddlers, tourists, motorcycles, buses, cars, people carrying people walkers .. and mostly just the numbers of humans walking in every direction.the street is so burgeoning with life that is overwhelms.This is life force..youth..what they have come not only to see, but to have.
In the past…we are strong and powerful (or so it seemed so to us…there was always Mom and Dad to verify that for us. this is the symbol of the Indian street. this is the return to the past. this is the land of the never die. The people on the street are too young to die.
What happens in these scenes of the decaying body (the hotel) in the midst of this throbbing energized life (the street)?
Douglas and Jean who are very unhappy with each other but hang in there because of the British virtue of loyalty realize their marriage is no more. Jean returns to england…the sexuality of the youthful scene is too frightening to her. she cannot handle it and Douglas starts a love affair with Evelyn which we know was beshert (the Yiddish word for fated).. now she has a well paying job, and we know happiness will be theirs to enjoy. Muriel has her hip replacement, peppers the movie with condescending brutal remarks to the Indians and anyone else who is not white ….(probably a good replay back to a familiar scene during British rule) but overcomes it and when the hotel is going to be torn down as it is not profitable, becomes the life saving accountant who takes over the bookkeeping duties to save the hotel and make it turn around…also gets over her xenophobia. Norman meets a British woman who has lived her life in India, is single, available and good looking. He spends the night with her. She secretly exchanges his viagra for aspirin and he goes all night long. they move in together . Ah, the wonders of fantasy.
Madge slips the waitress in a fancy restaurant a bill to seat her at a table next to a promising single man, and embarks on what may become a successful new sex adventure.
Graham finds his long past lover on whom he brought disgrace (because they were discovered sleeping together…evidently accepted in England, but so shameful in India, the then young boys father lost his job and the family was shunned. the ex lover has been married all these years but his stoic appearing wife knows all and watches their tender embrace when they meet.
But fantasy has moral lessons so after the two have met and embraced, Graham dies of a heart attack.perhaps because of the shame he brought to his lover,but there is also the fantasy of the culmination of sex bringing death.
This brings us to the only scene in the movie which actually has to do with death. Grahams lover decides he wants the services for him to be held on the beach where they met 40 years ago. the whole troupe…our group of 7 Brits, the family of the lover attend and arrange for the body to be burned in a pyre. We watch the whole funeral scene.
Evelyn (who has the best lines…is often the narrator of the movie) says it takes a long time for a human body to burn. they start at dawn and the body is ashes by night. the scene closes with the lover sprinkling the ashes in the water.
Evelyn who discovered Graham dead on the porch swing says philosophically that if you put people together of a certain advanced age, surely you are going to have a death.
So death is acknowledged in this fantasy. But is the “other” who dies…not the real main characters.
I did find a moral to this movie.
The reality of what more commonly happens to older people who must give up the way that they live is that they move into retirement communities, or condos devoted to older people or to assisted living centers. Their lives are filled with people their own age..the activities and social life is all watered down to what is considered healthy (not to raise anxiety..the blood pressure) and underneath the fun of all the bridge games and mah jong there is a knowledge that they have come here to deal with the end of life as best they can…and eventually it happens.
the moral of this story as i saw it..is that there is a certain life giving aid to living in a world that has youth, energy,sex,vitality…to have the street part of your scene that you need to walk in or at least cross, can indeed be a tremendous vitamin and life boost but the fountain of youth it is not.There is no such thing not even in this movie.
The acting in this movie, btw, is superb. It moves along easily with charm and interest.The scenes of Jaipur were wonderful. It is a well made movie….There is nothing better than the movies when we desire fantasy.
main characters are played by
Evelyn Judi Dench
Graham Tom Wilkinson
Norman Ronald Pickup
Muriel Maggie Smith
Douglas Bill Nighy
Jean Penelope Walter
Madge Celia Imnie
Selma Duckler