Tea With the Dames

Tea With the Danes is a delightful documentary with four English actresses, all Dames, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright and Eileen Atkins. It is a charming, genuine, funny and inspirational documentary to all who listen to the stories of these four women. All have earned awards and much deserved accolades for their acting in plays and movies. American actors could learn a lot from these stellar women who have accepted their aging yet continue to be rated as top actresses worldwide; all without plastic and surgical enhancements that American actors submit upon themselves. The only reason why I didn't give the film 10 Stars is due to the editing. At different points in the film, the editor allows the film to drag on, in sane cases into silence. For instance, a production member, (who wears a name tag!), comes in with a laptop to show Judi Dench an archive of a play she was in when she was 21yrs old. It's a nice tidbit, but the scene drags on. There's also a scene in which Maggie Smith laments, "What else? What else?", when the ladies all fall silent. As a viewer, you have an inkling that this doesn't happen when they all gather without the cameras. I would recommend this film to all fans of movies and plays. Currently, you can watch it on Hulu. I bought myself a copy for when it is no longer available for streaming.

This is a film about four actress (who are now Dames) catching up together to share stories, have tea, share memories and most importantly... laugh. Our Dames are: * Judi Dench * Elieen Atkins * Joan Plowright & * Maggie Smith From the beginning of the film it's obvious our leading ladies have a strong friendship and history with one another. Their catch up appears to occur on a regular basis, but this time our Dames have allowed cameras, stage and lighting crew to deliver a taste of the type of conversations that occurs whenever they are united. Needless to say, Tea With Dames feels more like a Documentary than a motion picture feature. Some of the topics discussed involve the Dames talking about their early career on stage and the many objections and negativity they encountered along the way. Our Dames also reflect on highlights of the past and present, plus sharing discussions about their loved ones and the advice they wish they told themselves at the beginning of their acting career. I absolutely love this idea and concept. A group of Dames talking around the table doesn't sound like a huge budget is required to achieve this documentary and that's why I love it. Our Dames are never boring and I found there are plenty of topics that are discussed, revealing things that I never knew about the actresses. However, there are sadly two elements that do disappoint me. Firstly is some of the camera work done to capture the Dames during the stories and deep discussion is sometimes captured with a shaky camera and it's obvious the filming crew struggled to keep up with the conversation, missing key expressions from our leads. Another slight disappointment is that our Dames are given questions during the film and documentary (possibly by the director) which then puts the Dames on a path of a topic or lengthy discussion. The problem with this is that every time a crew members questions our Dames from behind the camera, it reminds the audience that our Dames are not alone and they are in fact are surrounded by people. It's a minor detail, but it simply ruins the vibe, illusion and the concept of the film. Overall, this is a documentary which is rather simple and I love the idea. Our Dames provide fantastic insight from their past and their friendship with one another. There's never a dull moment, but our Dames are not always in the camera frame and the questioning throughout reminds us that this is a film, taking away from the concept. I feel our Dames could carry on a deep discussion without any assistance- after all they do it regularly, right? Either way, it's a touching documentary. 8.4/10 Walkden Entertainment

This wasn't a "movie" as such but it was an enjoyable outing. Slow moving, at times, but it was kind of like hanging with four very interesting seniors. I thoroughly enjoying getting to know them, hearing their take on many modern things while seeing bits of their previous works. They are truly treasures and I'm so thankful that the filmmakers captured them.

Just watched this movie in a private presentation this morning and I have laughed throughout the movie. Such a gem and I do hope that a few art house cinemas will give it a chance to make their guests laugh at this funny quartet of amazing actresses we came to love. By Guido Baechler - Jeridoo Universe

For anyone who truly loves theatre, movies, TV and the actors that bring such magic to all these mediums, you must see this documentary (for those from Canada, it is currently for rent, On Demand, through Bell Aliant). There are not enough accolades to properly honour these women's lives and careers and just to travel with them through these 80 minutes is a privilege. Must see. If you haven't already guessed, I rate this documentary a 10 (must see) out of 10. {Documentary}

Filmmaker Roger Michell gathered four old friends of the British stage and world film for a chat about their lives, careers, and lessons learned. He prompts them a bit from off camera, and they tease and support one another. The tone is pleasant, relaxed, occasionally serious, but unhurried and not often terribly revelatory, it must be admitted. What might surprise most viewers are the forgivable glimpses of vulnerability: not just Plowright's physical infirmities, but the actresses' general admissions of fright on the boards and on camera, and memories of regrets and bad judgments. Other reviews have complained about the archival footage -- but I found most of it delightful, especially since we Americans have rarely seen these jewels on stage, particularly early in their careers. Most of us probably can picture Dench or Smith only as regal elders in "Downton Abbey," or the James Bond and Harry Potter franchises. These women were never glamorous beauties in her youth, but they were all undeniably magnetic. The clips are all mostly very short, anyway, save for some home-movie footage of an early outdoor production that the filmmakers probably linger over to savor Dench's surprise and pleasure at seeing ancient footage of herself as a very young thespian. The complaints about time devoted to Olivier are unwarranted, as well, since all these women worked with him on stage and under his direction. He was, after all, artistic director of the National Theatre when these actresses were in their board-treading primes ... and he was married to Plowright for nearly three decades. We do see footage and discussion of several other husbands, but the average American would not know them. My complaints center not so much on anything that's in the film, but all that's not. So much more could have been addressed, and I would have loved to see more clips of their early stage and film work. But one must respect the privacy of venerable ladies, and to have pressed several of them any further would likely have taxed their stores of energy as well as patience. The film climaxes with the subjects' answers to the question of what advice they would have given their younger selves, which is hilarious and touching. Don't miss the final tongue-twister the filmmakers give the quartet, which Dench manages, Plowright manages, Atkins NAILS, and Smith utterly and hilariously blows, probably because she decided it's not worth the trouble.

So funny, so witty, so much excellence from this ladies. Absolutely on point, smart, funny. And makes you think about life - even for us mere mortals. Just wondering why so much talk about L. Olivier had to be included...a wee bit of a patriarcal angle maybe, that sounded easy and boring considering the women power channeling of the film.

Four grand Dames of England, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright, and Eileen Atkins get together and reminisce at Plowright's country home. I would say the wonderful archival film snippets of some of their performances on stage and screen would be enough for the price of admission here. But we get a lot more than that as these superb actresses talk about their surprising self-doubts, anxieties before they perform, aging, marriages, reviewers, and swap inside stories of their interactions with fellow performers and directors. I felt this documentary got off to a rather disjointed start but went more smoothly as it progressed. Some of the humor made me laugh out loud such as when Dench had to call the paramedics for a bee sting on her backside. Her description was hilarious of the very young EMT tech who asked her if she had a carer (in America would be a home aide) which made her furious and she told him to "f-off". Overall, this film had its awkward moments and the technique of the talented director Roger Michell asking the four women from the wings to comment on a new topic didn't work very well, in my opinion. But just to sit in and eavesdrop on this get-together of four master artists was a real pleasure.

A rare opportunity to hear from four great British actresses. Fun and enlightening stories.

The English documentary Tea with the Dames (2018) was directed by Roger Michell. It stars Dame Eileen Atkins, Dame Judi Dench, Dame Joan Plowright, and Dame Maggie Smith. These four friends have gotten together on occasion over the span of may years. Finally they decided--or were convinced--that a documentary would involve audiences in their lives and thoughts. All of these women have had fabulous careers in theater, cinema, and TV. Now, in their 80's, they are retired or semi-retired. (Dame Joan is blind, so she formally announced her retirement.) However, they still are as intelligent and witty as ever. And, of course, they know how to work with a camera crew. The result of this filming is pure magic. It opens a window into what inspired these actors so that they could inspire us. I've seen other documentaries of people talking with each other in somewhat informal situations, but I've never seen a movie like this. We saw this film in Rochester's excellent Little Theatre. It will work very well on the small screen. The movie carries a strong IMDb rating of 7.6, and I would say it's even better than that. Don't miss it! Personal P.S. One of the topics discussed by the four women is the difficulty of playing the role of Cleopatra in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. All of them say that they didn't have the courage to play the role. One of them says to Maggie Smith, "Well, you played it." She answers, "Yes, but in Canada." Obviously all four of them meant the English theater. Apparently, it's obvious to them that playing Cleopatra for Canadian audiences isn't quite the same. That may or may not be true, but in 1976 we saw Maggie Smith as Cleopatra at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada, and she was magnificent. It's one of those performances that you never forget. Dame Maggie spent four seasons in Stratford (1976 - 1980) and everything she touched turned into gold. She was adored by Canadian and U.S. lovers of great acting in great plays. So, in "Tea with the Dames," her Canadian work sounds trivial. In real life it was anything but trivial. She is still my favorite actor of all time.