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Mrs Henderson Presents [2005]


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"You really are Jewish"
Review date: 2006-05-21 Rating: 10 out of 10

It is between world wars in London. Laura Henderson (Judi Dench) is recently widowed. Now she must look for something to do with her time and money. Having exhausted all the conventional outlets, she ventures in to the world of theater. She purchased the dilapidated "Windmill" theater. To make a go of it she employs the well know Vivian Van Damm (Bob Hoskins) to run things. Vivian demands a free hand and is many time at odds with Laura. To save the faltering enterprise they come up with a nude tableau presentation.

Mrs. Henderson is overbearing and not as much a bigot as snot. Early on she accuses Van Damm of being Jewish. To playact his entourage he is forced to disrobe. When Mr. Henderson walks in and takes a long look "You really are Jewish".

The film is loosely based on real events yet adjusted for today's audience. You will notice many of the standard scenarios and clich�s with a touch of "chorus line" or maybe 42 nd street. The real value is not just the fine acting but their personal interaction of the characters as the all learn (usually too late) more of each other as time goes by. As facades are stripped away, there is a lot more depth of character than meets the eye.




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Nobody stops Dame Judi from putting nude women on stage
Review date: 2006-04-21 Rating: 8 out of 10

The British have an affinity for making charming comedies about nudity that seems well beyond the ability of our colonial filmmakers. They have proven this in films from "The Full Monty" to "Calendar Girls," and in case anybody was thinking that they could only do this with overweight blokes and older ladies, along comes "Mrs. Henderson Presents" to show that naked young women can be charming as well. Director Stephen Frears is helped along in this endeavor in that the story he is telling is based on true events, since nudity combined with history has much more justification than simply nudity for the sake of art.

Mrs. Henderson (Judi Dench) is a widow who eases the boredom of her life by buying the Windmill, a West End theater in Soho. She hires Vivian Van Damm (Bob Hoskins) to run the place and he comes up with the innovative idea of doing a non-stop revue: no need to wait for the start of a performance, just come on in, sit right down, and stay as long as you like. The idea of "Revudeville" is such a big success that everybody copies it, so now Mrs. Henderson needs to present something different and she suggests nude girls. This is Britain, so it goes without saying that would be wrong, but in chatting up Lord Cromer (Christopher Guest), the Lord Chamberlain, she establishes that while a naked woman who moves might be considered obscene, a naked woman who did not move would not. After all, there are statues and naked women on display at the National Gallery. Therefore, the "Windmill Girls" will be displayed in motionless poses as living statues.

The big moment is supposed to be when the Windmill stages its first "tableaux vivants" for the general public, but that turns out not to be the case. Instead, the big moment comes when the "English roses" that Van Damm has collected are required to disrobe for the first time on stage during rehearsal. This becomes a stick wicket, and the girls come up with a solution that provides the biggest laugh of the film when Mrs. Henderson arrives upon the scene and sees the best "tableaux vivants" of the film. After that point the actual first performance is something of an anti-climax, and most of the rest of the film are simply vignettes about what it is was like when a mouse was let loose on stage and other on stage occurrences of note, played out against the tension between Mrs. Henderson and Van Damm when she discovers he is married and vows never to set foot in her heater again.

However, although there is not much in terms of plot for this long section of the film, the emphasis being on putting together the tableaus and musical numbers, there is a conclusion of note when World War II begins and the Windmill stays open during the Blitz. Part of the reason is that the theater was mostly underground, so it was a relatively safe place to be during the air raids. But there is also a sense that Mrs. Henderson is keeping her theater open to spite Hitler: after all, the Nazis have conquered France and she can no longer visit the grave of her only son, who was killed during the First World War. There is a point where the Lord Chamberlain wants to close the Windmill, and Mrs. Henderson gets up on a crate in the middle of the street and explains in pointed and poigant terms why she puts nude women on stage. So it was that the Windmill could proudly proclaim "We Never Closed" ("We Never Clothed" is a nice play on words, but not strictly true).

Dench sails through her scenes like the great ship of state that she is, even if her dignity is challenged by such things as being placed on top of a cabinet. After all, this is a woman who will say words that would put any gentleman to shame. Hoskins gives his all as well (literally), and we should not be surprised that he can stand toe to toe with Dame Judi and not back down. Special mention should be made of Will Young, who plays Bertie and sings all the tenor parts of the arrangements, and Kelly Reilly as Maureen, the tallest of the original "Windmill Girls" and the only one that really emerges as a distinct character. The results are charming, which, when you stop and think about it, is really just the British version of cute. Rated R for the tasteful exhibition of bits and pieces.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Judi Dench
Will Young
Kelly Reilly
Bob Hoskins
Christopher Guest

Creators:
Judi Dench (Primary Contributor)
Bob Hoskins (Primary Contributor)
Bob Hoskins (Producer)
Cameron McCracken (Producer)
David Aukin (Producer)
David M. Thompson (Producer)
David Rose (Writer)
Kathy Rose (Writer)
Martin Sherman (Writer)

Director(s):

EAN: 0065935222002
Binding: DVD
Format: PAL,
Universal product code (UPC): 065935222002
Region code: 2
Running time: 103 minutes
Language: English (Original Language)

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