the audience applauded

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Many reviewers here seem to have gone to this film led to expect a comedy. But this is about as funny as The Seagull which Chekhov himself imagined was a comedy when he was asked for a description after he'd written it. But that should not matter for this film any more than it does for The Seagull, because the film has a genuine original story, and world-weary, damaged, but unquestionably involving characters.The story is of a bitter, three-times divorced, and more or less bankrupt American, Mathias Gold, who is left a Paris apartment in his father's will. He arrives in Paris obsessed with turning the central and elegant, but neglected property into huge amounts of cash as fast as possible, only to find that it is occupied by the old lady of the title and her daughter and that they hold it in form of life tenancy that Gold finds deeply frustrating.Kevin Kline plays Gold with a sympathy that's unexpected for those of us who know him for rather frenetic parts like that in A Fish Called Wanda. But, not for the first time, it's Maggie Smith who steals the show as the tenant, still quintessentially English, despite living most of her life in France. Likewise, Kristin Scott Thomas is so perfect for her role as the daughter that you feel the film could hardly have been possible without this pairing to play out the deeply complex mother - daughter relationship.The film has flaws and indulges itself a little at times, especially with the rather unnecessary opera singer, but it is, on the whole, nearly perfect. Not to be missed.

I found this movie on Netflix where it was awarded 2 1/2 stars out of five which is half a star less than the fireplace with crackling logs!!!! I tend to go for films that have low scores based on the premise that high scoring movies on netflix are usually utter drivel ( who grades them!) whereas low scoring foreign films are usually pretty good. This movie is a work of genius in every respect: I loved the story, the cinematography and the location; Paris is my favourite city. I especially loved the acting and the choice of actors. Maggie Smith is just a marvel but we all know that! Kevin Kline is without any doubt the best American actor on the circuit and he was perfect for the part. Kristen Scott- Thomas is such a powerful character actress who completely stole my heart in The English Patient and I would marry her tomorrow if she'd have me though my wife might have some grounds for objection. This is more of a play than a movie but I stand by my vote and it is the best movie I have watched in years.

Fabulous acting, scenery, and except for a terrible title, My Old Lady was the very best film I've ever seen. This remarkable film was perfect at every level. I was transfixed for the entire movie. I have always been a fan of Maggie Smith and she never fails. Kristin Scott Thomas as Chloe,played the part with such great delivery. But the best was Kevin Kline's emotional story of what happened to him as a boy. I also loved how the story got deeper and more developed.The beauty of Paris made me long to go there and the cinematography was absolute perfection. How this can be someone's first film is amazing. I recommend without any hesitation.

A beautiful house in Paris is the setting for this troublesome drama where the presence of a little old lady (Maggie Smith at her most passive/aggressive gentleness) turns the new owner's (Kevin Kline) world upside down. He inherited the house from his late father and discovers much to his confusion that as the owner, he must pay rent to Smith and her rather serious daughter, Kristin Scott Thomas, who has enough troubles of her own to add him to her list of problems. Smith, it is quickly revealed, was an acquaintance of her father's, and as the lines of communication open between the three, more facts are revealed that turn Kline back to the bottle, break up Scott's own relationship with a married man, and reveal secrets that are heartbreaking and often shocking.You can never go wrong with any movie that stars the now legendary Smith, the British Katharine Hepburn, whose tenacity to continue working has made her beloved. This isn't a Jean Brodie Maggie Smith, nor a Dora Charles Maggie Smith of "Murder By Death", and she is as far from her Lady Violet Crawley as she is from Little Lord Fauntleroy. A character of gentle breeding and much class, she teaches English to Europeans of other cultures living in Paris, and in one scene, must explain to one of her pupils of the very sexually explicit meaning of the book they are reading. There is no shock on her face, just minor amusement, and even when she confronts Kline with his return to the bottle, it is with much tenderness and concern. It turns out she knows more information as to why he drinks, and when Kline shares his most shocking secret with her, it is written on her face ever so briefly that her whole world is shattered because of it. The bond with Scott grows too, and they all learn that underneath their initial distrust of each other, they are now bonded forever.This takes much patience to get into, but the three stars do their best to help the viewer maintain intentions. It is a gentle movie, almost nurturing in a way, and leaves the viewer with a very important lesson of how the generations create gaps simply because they unwillingly refuse to understand the older or younger ones. As old Rose said in "Titanic", "A woman's heart carries many secrets", and in the case of Smith's Mathilde Girard, she has more than her alleged 90 years can hold. The three give brilliant performances, almost quiet to the point where it seems like they are not at all acting. It's one of those sleeper movies that you'll have to sleep on to really be affected by it and one where your own relationships with older relatives, especially parents, will be forced out of whatever hiding spot they hold in your soul.