Tea With the Dames 2018

     In Tea with the Dames 2018, four women get together in a private home to talk about their careers, husbands, sip tea and also champagne.  These are not ordinary women but Dames Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright and Eileen Atkins.  The four women are also friends so this was an easy conversation.  They reminisce about their humble beginnings in the theater and their lives.

     I thought this was very good because there is so much information from the women about behind the scenes of films, plays and marriages.   Laurence Olivier was mentioned since he has acted with all four of the women and he was married to Joan Plowright.  Even though they are famous and they are Dames, they are women with friends, marriages and children just like other people in a lot of ways.  It’s possible there would have been more in depth conversations if there had been a narrator asking questions?  Archival footage is shown of the four women receiving the honor of Dame and other footage of their previous roles.  4* (I really liked this movie) 

84 min, Doc directed by Roger Michelll with Eileen Atkins, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright and Maggie Smith.

Note:  Imdb 7.3 out of 10, Rotten Tomatoes critic 99% 80% audience, Roger Ebert 3 ½* Matt Fagerholm, Metacritic 85 out of 100 with 19 critics 7 out of 10 with 7 user scores (5 positive, 2 mixed), RollingStone 4* out of 5* Peter Travers, 5* Peter Bradshaw.

Special Note:  Judi Dench has received seven Academy Award nominations, Maggie Smith six nominations, Joan Plowright one nomination, Eileen Atkins has not been nominated.  Maggie Smith is the biggest winner with two Oscars.  Best Supporting Actress for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie 1969 and a Best Supporting Actress for California Suite 1978.  Judie Dench received a Best Supporting role Oscar for Shakespeare in Love 1998.  Judi Dench starred as “M” in seven James Bond films with a worldwide gross of $2.294billion.  Maggie Smith tripled that number by starring as Minerva McGonagall in seven Harry Potter films that grossed $6.763 billion worldwide. 

Ages of the women:  Women are not supposed to reveal their ages but I can do that for them?  Eileen Atkins was 84 one month after release of this film in 2018.  Judi Dench was 84 in December of 2018.  Joan Plowright was 89 in October and I thought she was the oldest.  Maggie Smith was 84 in December 2018.  The idea for this film could also be recreated with other Dames such as Helen Mirren, Diana Rigg, Julie Waters and Vanessa Redgrave (she refused the offer of Damehood).