The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a coming of age story in a
rather unlikely way. Its main characters
are not novice youngsters or young adults feverishly searching for their life’s
purpose in the many daunting years ahead of them. Hardly.
Instead, the characters that make up this story are all well over the
hill and have had plenty of that kind of life experience. But despite its displacement in the traditional
sense of that genre, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel basks in the seemingly
youthful splendor and energy of a coming of age story.
Immediately, the audience receives a crash course of introductions
by way of the film’s seven main characters, all living in various parts of
England, all unknown to each other’s own existence. There’s the newly widowed housewife, Evelyn
(Judi Dench), looking to sell her home and pay off her family’s debts; another
woman, Muriel (Maggie Smith), in need of an affordable hip replacement (who is
also racist); a judge by the name of Graham (Tom Wilkinson), who has been
telling himself for years he will soon retire; Norman (Ronald Pickup), a single
man of the Don Juan type always looking for some fun under the sheets despite
his old age, Madge (Celia Imrie), a woman of similar stature that, despite a
few unsuccessful marriages, still hopes to be swopped off her feet by a beloved
Prince Charming. And then there’s the
groups’ only married couple, Douglas (Bill Nighy) and Jean (Penelope Wilton), who
still appear much too young for their retirement community home, fit with too
many handrails and an emergency button- but it’s all they can afford. What groups these people together is the tight
budget they must plan their retirement on, making this comfort that much harder
to attain. The introductions become
hectic at first and almost too much too soon, but through each of their three
minutes of screen time, we see that none of these folks are cinematic
caricatures. Each one is cleverly thought
out and totally real. No doubt there is
a lonely Evelyn and a feisty old Norman out there in our world. Their individual stories make the film much
more real and relatable. In their own
ways, each character is trying to re-attain the peace of mind they had from
years prior and this subsequently takes them to the same destination- India,
where they all meet.
