ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Crwthod A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Helloturia I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

philipfoxe I just watched this film last night and was so overwhelmed by one scene that I had to stop watching I was so upset. A number of people posting here have said how they disliked Mathias; that he was grasping, selfish etc. They really should have listened harder. What Mathias was describing was an unhappy childhood. A child who has been emotionally neglected often grows up with a personality disorder. They feel abandoned, have low self esteem, develop addictive and self destructive tendencies like alcohol and gambling. They have no happy memories and are likely to have trouble maintaining relationships. They may seem greedy but sometimes at least money is something tangible since they get little pleasure from human interaction. All these symptoms are clearly expressed by Mathias. He hates his father, but the hatred does not make him feel better. The fact that his father has told other people he is worthless only adds insult to injury. The writer of this knows about this and it is the only time I have ever seen this condition expressed in a film. I know, because I am a neglectful criminal father who has destroyed his son's life.

jinni44 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.

mark.waltz 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.

SnoopyStyle Mathias Gold (Kevin Kline) arrives in Paris to claim his inheritance. His father left him a large apartment in the city and not much else. He is thrice divorced, failed writer and penniless. He hopes to sell the apartment quickly and leave. Instead he finds Mathilde Girard (Maggie Smith) living there. His father had actually bought the place as a viager. Mathilde lives in the apartment until her death and gets paid €2400 a month. She allows him to stay which infuriates her daughter Chloé Girard (Kristin Scott Thomas). François Roy needs to buy the apartment to build his hotel.The problem is that the dangers in this movie isn't that high. It's a self-pity party and at the end of it, he becomes a multi-millionaire. I can certainly see Chloé's point of view but she was always going to be kicked out. I don't see why selling to the hotelier is such an evil act. The whole situation has no real conflict other than one ginned up by the movie.It's not until the movie gets personal that the real drama begins. The three characters have interesting hidden conflicts. The three actors are acting the hell out of it. However it goes off down an off-putting alley. It's weirdly awkward navel gazing. I can't feel for any of the characters. The movie doesn't have any intensity for me.