My Old Lady is a 2014 comedy-drama film written and directed by Israel Horovitz in his feature directorial debut. The film was released in 2014, and stars Maggie Smith, Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Dominique Pinon. It was screened in the Special Presentations section of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.

Plot

Mathias/ Jim , a down-and-out New Yorker, travels to Paris planning to sell the large, valuable apartment in a coveted area he has inherited from his estranged father. Once there, he discovers an old woman, Mathilde, living in the apartment with her daughter Chloé.

Jim quickly learns that the apartment is a viager — an ancient French system for buying and selling property — meaning he will not actually be in possession of it until Mathilde dies. Until then he owes her a life annuity of €2,400 a month. All this is a surprise to him, as his father never told him and Jim had communication problems with the French lawyer, who doesn t speak English.

Jim has no money and no place to live, but Mathilde will allow him to stay in the apartment with her if he pays rent. However, to pay for the next life annuity payment, he takes and sells furniture from the apartment and also asks a prospective buyer of his contract for advance payments.

Inquiring after Mathilde s health her doctor/English student tells Jim she s in excellent health. Chatting over dinner, he learns she also barters English lessons with the fishmonger. Mathilde asks him if he visited there over the years, but he hadn t as his mother considered it to be enemy territory.

The next day, Jim invites Chloé and hotelier Francois Roy to a café as he wants to discuss possibly selling part of the house by dividing it into two apartments. Neither likes the idea, so Jim asks for a modest retainer while he considers Roy s offer (his way of getting a bit of cash).

Discovering Chloé is going to dinner with her male companion, Jim follows her after class. She goes to a café, waving down the man he s seen her entering a hotel with some days before. He waves her off, as he s going to dine with his wife and daughters. Observing this, Jim calls her out on it, trying to blackmail her to avoid paying the 2,400 euros.

Mathias/Jim discovers that Mathilde and his father had a very long-lasting affair started seven years before he was born, while both were married (they couldn t afford to marry each other). (And incidentally, his French name is the male equivalent of Mathilde.)

Jim makes Mathilde see how her affair with his father affected him and his mother. He felt unloved and ignored, so he turned to drink and had a string of failed marriages. She had a string of failed suicides, finally succeeding when he was 19, which he saw upon return from college.

After meeting with Roy to accept the sale, Jim returns to the apartment. Finding a photo of he and Chloé together at ten, Mathilde mentions it was the only time he s been there, and that his father stopped coming by after his mother died. Then Jim himself confesses to having slit his own wrists at 40, but although his father lived a few blocks away he didn t visit.

Upon reflection of how the adultery of their parents affected them emotionally, Chloé breaks off her affair. Both she and Jim recall and bond over their childhoods. At 10 she realised about her mother s affair, at the same time he is trying to prevent the first of many suicide attempts by his.

The next day, Jim accepts the papers from Roy s lawyer, and Mathilde comes in, postulating that his mother must have known and approved of her affair with his father. When he divulges that she had 10 to 15 suicide attempts, the last being successful, she collapses from shock.

Jim and Chloé have a moment and kiss, but then when she asks Mathilde if she shares a father with Jim, she says she is unsure. He overhears, so goes to run blood tests at the doctor s.

Once Mathias/Jim gets the confirmation that he and Chloé are NOT related, as she wants to stay in the apartment, he decides at the last minute to decline Roy s multi-million Euro offer for the apartment/contract. Mathilde points out that they do not have to worry about money if they sell en viager, albeit they d receive a modest income due to their relatively young ages.

Cast

• Kevin Kline as Mathias Jim Gold
• Kristin Scott Thomas as Chloé Girard
• Maggie Smith as Mathilde Girard
• Stéphane Freiss as François Roy
• Dominique Pinon as Monsieur Lefebvre
• Stéphane De Groodt as Philippe
• Christian Rauth – Furniture Dealer
• Delphine Lanson – Femme de Ménage
• Noémie Lvovsky as Dr. Florence Horowitz (Mathilde s doctor)
• Sophie Touitou as Female Opera Singer
• Nathalie Newman as Philippe s Wife
• Ora Yermia as Girl with Roses
• Gillian Horovitz as Gardienne
• Balkissa Touréh as Messenger

Development

The film My Old Lady is an adaptation of Horovitz s play of the same name, which premiered in 1996 at the Gloucester Stage Co., founded by Horovitz in East Gloucester, MA.

Horovitz, principally a playwright and theatre director, and whose plays have been translated and performed in more than 30 languages worldwide, had previously directed only one film, 3 Weeks After Paradise, a 51-minute testimonial from 2002 about his family s experiences following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York s World Trade Center.

Production

My Old Lady is a British–French–American film production venture between BBC Films, Cohen Media Group, and Deux Chevaux Films. The film is produced by Rachael Horovitz (Moneyball), Gary Foster (Sleepless in Seattle), Nitsa Benchetrit and David Barrot. Film production began filming on location in Paris and its surrounding suburbs on September 26, 2013.

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 61% based on 89 reviews. The site s consensus reads, Although My Old Lady doesn t quite live up to its stars talents, Kevin Kline and Maggie Smith carry the film capably whenever they re together onscreen. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 53 out 100 based on reviews from 19 critics, indicating mixed or average reviews .

John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: Kline remains a pleasure to watch, surviving the character s deepening self-pity and making his suspiciously unwriterly carelessness with words (he refers to the trophy head of a wild boar as a cow ) almost charming. Variety s Andrew Barker gave a mixed review: Its translation from stage to screen looks to have been a bit rocky, and the film never manages to transcend its actors-workshop aura and develop into something deeper.

Year	2014
ReleaseDate	2014-11-21
RuntimeMins	107
RuntimeStr	1h 47min
Plot	An American inherits an apartment in Paris that comes with an unexpected resident.
Awards	Awards, 1 win & 1 nomination
Directors	Israel Horovitz
Writers	Israel Horovitz
Stars	Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith
Produced by	David Atrakchi,David-Christophe Barrot,Daniel Battsek,Mac Bell,Nitsa Benchetrit,Raphaël Benoliel,Gaël Cabouat,Charles S. Cohen,Gary Foster,Mike Goodridge,Israel Horovitz,Rachael Horovitz,Russ Krasnoff,Christine Langan,Boris Mendza,Joe Oppenheimer,Marie Cécile Renauld
Music by	Mark Orton
Cinematography by	Michel Amathieu
Film Editing by	Stephanie Ahn,Jacob Craycroft
Production Design by	Pierre-François Limbosch
Set Decoration by	Daphné Deboaisne
Costume Design by	Jacqueline Bouchard
Makeup Department	Pascale Bouquière,Simine Commien,Juliette Martin,Julio Parodi
Production Management	Marie-Reine Poyteau,Frédéric Sauvagnac,Robert Warmflash
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Elodie Baradat,Jeremy Fauchoux,Mina Frappier,Benoít Gaudriot,Valérie Othnin-Girard,Clément Schneider,Florian Thomas,Frank Ychou
Art Department	Ewen Aubert,Jean-Sébastien Bancet,Alexandra Boucan,Pierre Chevalier,Vincent Deleforge,Yannick Demarle,Laurent Hottois,Rémy Huber,Bertrand Kohser,Christophe Mercier,Thomas Morange,Xavier Morange,Alison Naudin,Edouard Pallardy,Rémi Pigeyre,Frank Pitussi,Christophe Pommie,Olivier Wojcik
Sound Department	Jonathan Acbard,Christine E. Andrews,Flo Ankah,Luc Cadiau,Martin Czembor,Isaac Derfel,Mariusz Glabinski,Marlena Grzaslewicz,Gavin Hecker,Michael Kurihara,Jean-Paul Mugel,Jay Peck,Matt Rigby,Jay Rubin,Benjamin Silvestre,Lidia Tamplenizza,Vendome Uhl,Chris White
Visual Effects by	Andrew J. Bly,Audra Coulombe,Chris Hayes,Henry Langstraat,Melissa Peralta,Joshua Sacavage,Chad Sikora
Camera and Electrical Department	Michel Amathieu,Baptiste Atanassian,François Auclair,Basile Barniske,Sarah Bensaïd,Bruno Boban,Justine Bourgade,Sophie Cadet,Benjamin Cohenca,Xavier Delamalmaison,Emmanuel Diaz,Lorenzo Donati,Christophe Dural,Xavier Embry,Jonathan Fischnaller,Etienne Fu-Le Saulnier,Pascal Henin,Antoine Husson,Katerina Jebb,Wilfried Lavanant,Camille McOuat,Yann Ody,Philippe Pantanella,Brice Roustang,Benjamin Rufi,Amandine Schelle,Gilles Sollier,Julian Torres
Casting Department	Marine Albert,Nathalie de Médrano,Elsa Pharaon
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Laurence Jeannerod,Paule Mangenot,Hélène Vaduva
Editorial Department	Allie Ames,Laura-Lee Clerardin,Carlos Flores,Beth Friedland,Jack Lewars,Benjamin Murray,Ronnie Rios,Zakia Smith,Fabien Napoli
Location Management	Alexandre Billon,Alexia Cipriani,Marc Cohen,Vincent Dachet,Edward Develay,Harold Gaudard,Mathieu Havoudjian,Gaél Iannantuoni,Benjamin Kalyoncu,César Sylva,Jean-François Voisin
Music Department	Jill Coykendall,Jesse Emerson,Ben Goldberg,Carla Kihlstedt,Mike Moore,Mark Orton,Megan Orton,Mousai Remix Strong Quarter
Script and Continuity Department	Jacqueline Gamard
Transportation Department	Vincent Huot,Michel Mahieu
Additional Crew	Flo Ankah,Charles Auty,Cassandra Barbour,Jacqui Barr,Emily Bell,Jacqueline Benloulou,Quentin Benoit,Jean-Pierre Bonnet,Zoe Brown,Julien Béségher,Michel Chevalier,Saraleah Cogan,Marc Cohen,Danielle Dumanoir,Francis Dumaurier,Anouk Dutruit,Jacqueline Eckhouse,Nicole Emery,Jean-Patrick Flande,Frederic Garcia,Helen Giles,Anwen Griffiths,Chris Hayes,Bethany Haynes,Oliver Horovitz,James Kay,Stéphane Landowski,Bruno Lengronne,Olivier Leroy,Léa Letellier,Johnny Ma,Stéphane Madaoui,Nastasia Many,Léa Marie-Saint Germain,Cyril Merle,Oscar O’Bradaigh,Séan O’Bradaigh,Lara Panah-Izadi,Melissa Peralta,Phillipe Poumarat,Adam W. Rosen,David Rowell,Ruth Sanders,Laura Sevier,Hélène Sifre,Edouard Sonet,Sonia Tardif D’Hamonville,Steve Van Balkon,Michael D. Walsh,Eleanor Windo,Lesley Wise,Michael Wood
Thanks	Jean Anouilh,Nicole Anouilh,Samuel Beckett,Loleh Bellon,David Brendel,Pierre Franck,Hazel Horovitz,Julius Horovitz,Eugène Ionesco,Maria Jolas,Philippe Le Guay,Véronique Letrett,Jonathan Mason,Claude Roy,Marian Seldes,Paul Simon,Bertrand Tavernier,Pierre Vaneck,George Whitman
Genres	Comedy, Drama, Romance
Companies	Katsize Films, BBC Films, Cohen Media Group
Countries	UK, France, USA
Languages	English, French, Italian
ContentRating	PG-13
ImDbRating	6.4
ImDbRatingVotes	9376
MetacriticRating	52
Keywords	screenplay adapted by author,apartment,dysfunctional family,cheating husband,cheating wife