Tea with the Dames (2018)

[Macbeth]

Spend some time with Dames Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright, and Eileen Atkins as they reminisce about their lives over tea. 

A gift from the gods I didn't know I wanted or needed until it showed up at my door.    Fantastic idea for a movie. These lovely ladies are friends and regularly meet for tea, and someone realized it would be a great idea to film them.  I had a lovely time watching them.  

They are such great actresses but they had to deal with  insecurities as well. For example, they didn't feel up to doing the part of Cleopatra as all of them thought they lacked the beauty. Maggie and Judi were the only ones to take on the role (all were asked).   Maggie played it only in Canada. Judi did play it at the National, but asked beforehand:  "Are you sure you want a menopausal dwarf to play the part?"  A witty line but one I could relate to. 

Cheers ladies. And thank you. 

[Dandesun]

I am so into this. I cannot wait to see it. GIVE IT TO ME NOW!!!

[Grammaeryn]

It’s available On Demand through Comcast. It is absolutely delightful. Lots a dry humor, show biz tales, and Maggie Smith is basically aging into Lady Grantham. It’s also a bit sad, if you step out of the moment, to know that we will lose these great women sooner rather than later. 

[LilWharveyGal]

I just caught this on DVD.  These ladies are old enough to be my grandmother but how I wish I could go hang out with them!

The one thing that bugged me was all of the time wasted on set-up shots and chatting with the crew.  Getting settled outdoors, then oops it's raining, and walking back inside, arranging pillows, touching up makeup, etc.  I wanted all the content I could get!

[blackwing]

Sounds awesome, will look for it.  But why didn't they include Dame Helen Mirren?

[CherryMalotte]

I had so much fun with this one!  I had heard her mention it before but I find it funny when Maggie Smith says they've sent her the dvd collection of DA but she's never watched them.  I would have killed to see them on stage.

[methodwriter85]

On ‎3‎/‎4‎/‎2019 at 7:52 PM, blackwing said:

Sounds awesome, will look for it.  But why didn't they include Dame Helen Mirren?

It is probably because she is a different cohort. All of the dames featured here were born in the late 1920's to mid-1930's. Helen is about 10 to 15 years younger than they are and she's just not part of that whole 1950's theater scene that seemed to be where these dames were forged.

[enoughcats]

We saw the DVD tonight WITH closed captioning.  Lots of laughter from us and the ladies appeared to enjoy doing this. 

I think the shocker was that I remembered some of their movies from the late 50's and 60's but I didn't connect them to the presences in the oughts. 

Their story about hotel change in Tea with Mussolini had us howling because we had a similar experience in that part of the world.  That stars would be sent to a dump, too, ....that part of the world.  

A great way to spend an evening.