Marigold Hotel

We humans ask age-appropriate questions. Young children want to know, “What will I be when I grow up?” Adolescents ask, “Who am I?” Young adults query, “How do I get to where I’m going?” In our middle years we ponder, “Where do I go from here?” And seniors consider, “What do I make of what I’ve become?”

That final question lurks in the minds of seven seniors featured in the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Each is dealing with limited retirement options. Evelyn (Judi Dench) is in shock, and in debt, after her husband of forty years has died. Graham (Tom Wilkinson) is fed up with his job, realizes he doesn’t have much time left, and wants to reconnect with a friend from the past.

Douglas and Jean (Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton), afflicted with bitterness and a short bank account, aren’t prepared to retire to a hackneyed retirement community. Muriel (Maggie Smith), an unwitting racist, needs a hip replacement and can’t afford it. Madge (Celia Imrie) is between husbands and is fed up with her role as a live-in nanny for her grandchildren. Norman (Ronald Pickup), an aging, thrill-seeking playboy, is looking for one last relationship.

All seven decide to outsource their retirement—in India. And they’re thrown together with two young adults, Sonny (Dev Patel), the hotel manager, and his girlfriend, Sunaina (Tena Desae), a telemarketer—both desperately seeking to discover how to get to where they are going. Sonny’s mother, Mummyji (Lillete Dubey), and Sunaina’s brother, Jay, (Sid Makkar) provide classic pushback for the young adults.

So this is a redemption story: nine people painfully working their way to the next stage of life. And it’s a wild ride, for them and for us—which is to say that we witness character development that leads to a satisfying conclusion. This is also a hero story, for three of the nine—Evelyn, Muriel, and Madge—lend a hand to rescue the others. And Graham is the mentor that every hero story needs. Death and resurrection, inherent to the genre, give us hope for the future.

It is noteworthy that both my wife and I were immediately captivated by this cinematic experience. This is not a usual occurrence, so I’ve been trying to figure out why this film speaks so deeply to both of us. Part of it is that we are emerging seniors looking to move meaningfully into our retirement years? We certainly empathized with the growing pains of those seasoned citizens. But the film is also a cross-cultural experience. My wife is especially drawn to stories that feature travel and cultural diversity; and I’m trying to play catch-up.

Ultimately, I think the appeal is that this is a work of art. All the elements of a good film—acting, script, and cinematography—come together to give us an encounter with beauty.  

Regarding the acting, we were delighted by the performances of Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, and Tom Wilkinson. Need I say more? But there is so much more. For example, Penelope Wilton plays the bitter, nagging, wife just as convincingly here as she performs the role of Nurse Isobel Crawley, advocate for the sick and wounded in Downton Abbey. And there’s Dev Patel and Tena Desae, relative newcomers, who add to the beauty of the story and to the diversity of personality-types. As Sonny, Patel is delightfully “over the top,” trying to convince himself and everyone else that “everything will be all right in the end.”

The screenplay offers at least two notable features. First, the plot moves along via poignant one-on-one conversations. Much of the interaction is enriching. For example, Evelyn empowers Graham by listening to and accepting his story; Madge empathizes with Norman and helps him find a woman more receptive to his assertiveness; and we see Muriel’s growth as she shares her story with a lowly servant. Yet, some of the conversations reveal preexisting problems: Tensions flair between Jean and Douglas because of Jean’s fearful intolerance; Sunny and his mother struggle over intergenerational issues; and Sonny and Jay vie over what’s best for Sunaina.

And four blog posts, written by Evelyn Greenslade for those back home, support the narrative: They give structure to the story, they summarize the group’s experience at significant junctures, and they offer wisdom for all ages. Images that Evelyn has in mind accompany her thoughts. Her first post, in which he writes about the “assault on the senses,” is a case in point. She observes, “But nothing can prepare the uninitiated for this riot of noise and color, for the heat, the motion, and the perpetual teaming crowds.” As we listen to her description, we observe Madge and Sunny frantically dealing with their stalled car; and we watch Jean in that car, in utter panic, surrounded by children who are yelling and pounding on the windows.

That brings us to the cinematic aspect of this film. An exchange between Jean and Graham illustrates this attribute. She asks, “How can you bear this country? What do you see that I don’t?” Graham responds, “Oh, the light, colors, smiles [he chuckles], and—the way people see life as a—as a—privilege and not a right. It teaches me something.” Throughout the film, we experience Graham’s answer. We witness the bright colors, we listen to the sounds, and we move frenetically from place to place. So we get the feel of India that enables us, almost, to taste the food and to smell the atmosphere.

Yet, one aspect of this film concerns me. That is, the presentation of extra-marital sexual relationships as normative and without consequence. This feature is so pervasive in American films that I wonder whether it’s a case of art imitating life or life mimicking art. It’s probably some of both. Awareness of this false bias reminds us to watch films thoughtfully so that our beliefs and behavior aren’t changed, willy-nilly, over time.

So I recommend The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, certainly to seniors, but also to adults of all ages—those who ponder age-old questions like, Where do I go from here?