Review

Review Date: 5-February-06
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005)

It amuses me to think that a movie with punchlines of "fuck" and "pussy" could become a matinee must-see for the highbrow Anglophile set simply because it's a period piece starring Judi Dench. If such seeming incongruities tickle your fancy too, chances are you'll enjoy the imperfect but charming "Mrs. Henderson Presents," which accomplishes this very feat.

In fact, this occasionally serious comedy is all about tweaking the standards of polite society and defending the right to do so. The script embellishes upon the true story of a wealthy widow who bought a theater in London's West End shortly before the outbreak of World War II. Despite being a product and paragon of the elite, Laura Henderson has an outlandish streak and surplus of nerve which attract her to the unexpected. She dislikes doing anything halfway or anyone else's way, and the naïveté of her station causes her to view much of life as marvelously exciting. (Upon learning that someone is gay, she exclaims "Oh, how delicious!") In short, she's quite a dramatic personality, and Dench imbues her with a stately grace and winking humor that characterize the entire film. (She also sports the most gorgeous wardrobe in recent memory, which I hope will win an Oscar next month even if Dench will not.)

Mrs. Henderson's spirit is galvanized by her new theater, the Windmill, and by Vivian Van Damm (Bob Hoskins), the man she hires to run it. Although they clash and spar in mutual stubbornness (the beginnings of a beautiful friendship), they mount a revue whose popularity becomes absolute after the lady decides that her dancing girls should perform in the buff — an unheard-of attraction outside Paris. In a delightful cameo, Christopher Guest plays the lord from whom Mrs. Henderson extracts permission to display such a novelty, on condition that the naked performers don't move. (Nudity is art; jiggling is pornography.) The film flashes a flurry of full-frontal female figures and, in a display of good humor and fraternity, also includes a funny scene in which Hoskins and a few other fellows follow suit.

As it reaches the end, the movie develops a sudden need to express something weighty involving wartime culture, one of the showgirls (Kelly Reilly), and Mrs. Henderson's long-dead son. The finale is noticeably grafted onto the rest, yet it serves to illustrate that the heroine's bold venture was not simply a matter of eccentricity. The picture suggests that breaches of propriety are sometimes beneficial (inspiring, enlightening, even nurturing), as well as profitable and fun; and with its own combination of artistry and ribaldry, it proves Mrs. Henderson's lesson to be true.

Copyright © 2006 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.