The infectious joy of life as four British ladies drink tea

In England there are many Movie roles for women after retirement. Well, there are a huge number of British dramas being made where someone has to play an old aunt, but 81-year-old Judi Dench doesn't do that kind of role. Instead, she's played M in a handful of James Bond films. Next up (premiering in November) she has the lead role in red joana thrilling spy movie.

On a fairly regular basis, Dench, Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright and Eileen Watkins meet in the countryside to drink tea, gossip, laugh and tell tales of the past. This quartet of distinguished actresses, all of them noblewomen (and later given the honorary title of dame), have been together for half a century. At their last tea party, director Roger Michell and the film crew are in attendance. Of course, it’s no surprise that the ladies are there, but this documentary, or rather talk-show, lacks any kind of script.

Let me put it this way: Oh, how happy you are to watch. Nothing like a ladyThis is a feeling of happiness and contagiousness, a joy of life, really.

Michelle, still the most famous For Notting Hill, much painstaking work has gone into uncovering archive footage, much of it never before seen, from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Around the tea table, the director occasionally asks a question. There’s no need at all, because these four girls are independent, spirited and unexpectedly self-critical.

Among all these amusing and clever musings on the differences between being on stage and in front of the glow of a movie camera. Explaining why it's a stupid idea to try naturalistic acting with pauses and groans (think Marlon Brando as Julius Caesar in the 1953 film) in the context of Shakespeare.

I really just Two objections. The gossip about Larry (everyone in England understands that this refers to Laurence Olivier), whom Plowright is by all accounts married to, doesn't seem to matter much in a film where women are at the center. And the film is too short. I would have liked to have listened to these British ladies bickering for longer.