Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Dean !

  
  A great little English film with a great English casting line up. Including Kelly Reilly a very good actress on the rise, who will be well known to UK audiences in Above Suspicion, as the star of a West end show where the girls perform naked. Set during the 2nd world war, it shows the… More
  A great little English film with a great English casting line up. Including Kelly Reilly a very good actress on the rise, who will be well known to UK audiences in Above Suspicion, as the star of a West end show where the girls perform naked. Set during the 2nd world war, it shows the quirky, eccentric and fighting spirit of the people at the time. The film whizzes by very quickly, with a great cast, lovely girls this was a quirky comedy/drama that was more entertaining than I expected.

• Spencer S

  
  A valiant effort, Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins are a perfectly mismatched couple, plotting through their endeavor of the theatre with clarity, but what should have been more of a dramatic historical effort, came off as a campy, sex ploy, plot holed film. Still quite enjoyable though.

• Cynthia S

  
  Dame Judi Dench. If you like her, you will like this nice, slow moving drama.

• paul s

  
  A nice historical effort that gives those consumate actors Dench and Hoskins a chance to show off their chops, Mrs. Henderson Presents tell the tale of an elderly upper class woman of means who, for reasons that are poignantly revealed later, decides to open a theatre for a vaudville… More
  A nice historical effort that gives those consumate actors Dench and Hoskins a chance to show off their chops, Mrs. Henderson Presents tell the tale of an elderly upper class woman of means who, for reasons that are poignantly revealed later, decides to open a theatre for a vaudville type musical review. Dench is a marvel in this role and her interplay with Hoskins is simply fun to watch. The film has some nice theatrical touches, and Frears keeps the reigns on the more maudilin aspects, walking the tightrope and managing to keep the script moving and for the most part upbeat, in spite of the underlying "secret" and the backdrop of the beginnings of WWII (this is a historical piece afterall). There are some wonderful funny moments, for example, when Dench complains to her old biddy girlfriend that Hoskins is not paying the proper attention to her, the biddy tells Dench that she has to formulate a battle plan. She then goes on to mention that her late husband, the general, liked to attack from the rear, which while being a sound military tactic didn't do much for their love life..... I found the secondary stories of the girls of the theatre a nice way of rounding the edges and giving the film more body, and enjoyed the speach by Dench in which she not only reveals why she bought the theatre to begin with, but thumbs her nose at the stiff British mores. We've sure come a long way since then in some respects, but perhaps have lost something along the way.

• Al S

  
  What an enjoyable movie. Wickedly hilarious and magnificent. Judie Dench is outstanding. Bob Hoskins has never been better. They have delightful chemistry.

• Daniel P

  
  A great little film! Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins feud so well, you'd think they were married in real life, and it's worth watching just for the scenes they do together. It tackles the question of nudity especially well, and thankfully, the movie-raters in Canada had the… More
  A great little film! Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins feud so well, you'd think they were married in real life, and it's worth watching just for the scenes they do together. It tackles the question of nudity especially well, and thankfully, the movie-raters in Canada had the common sense to rate it PG despite the many, many breasts that are bared in the name of art. The only knock on it is that, while capturing a distinct historical moment fairly well, sometimes it is clear that the filmmaker, audience (and seemingly, the characters) know how the rest of the Second World War will unfold. Call it an undertone, I guess. It's a bit of a slow starter, but before you know it, Judi Dench has yet again reeled you in and shows that her Oscar nod was well-deserved. Watch this film.

• Sophie B

  
  if they made it so you couldnt see anything of their nakedness then i would give it a 5!

• Lanning :

  
  It is commendable that the folks involved in this were so excited about bringing this remarkable story to the screen, and, for historical purposes, it is well worth seeing. As far as the entertainment value goes, however, there is little beyond the historical value of the information… More
  It is commendable that the folks involved in this were so excited about bringing this remarkable story to the screen, and, for historical purposes, it is well worth seeing. As far as the entertainment value goes, however, there is little beyond the historical value of the information that makes this stand out. The players are competent, and the sets and costumes are well done. Other than that, there's not much to get excited about here. Hoskins pretty much nails it when he dresses Dench down -- no pun intended -- for being a bored and monied member of the upper class who's out of touch with the real world.

• Rico Z

  
  Most films that take place during World War II always seem to deal with the same themes: love, loss, tragedy and compassion. That gets old. Mrs. Henderson Presents deals with those themes but does so in a very fun and subtle way. Mrs. Henderson has recently lost her husband and… More
  Most films that take place during World War II always seem to deal with the same themes: love, loss, tragedy and compassion. That gets old. Mrs. Henderson Presents deals with those themes but does so in a very fun and subtle way. Mrs. Henderson has recently lost her husband and inherits a great amount of money. Being rich already, she must find a way to occupy her time and her spare change. She decided to purchase and run a theatre. Well, WWII drags the entire country down to its knees and Mrs. Henderson must find a way to uplift its people. The sweetness of this movie is palpable and the performances by Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins are simply beautiful. The movie's lighthearted approach to the war theme is the right approach to take and make this film that much more effective and connective. NOTE: Male & female frontal nudity throughout. Not that I mind-- but you might.

• Eric B

  
  Judi Dench gives a sparkling lead performance, but this lesser known Stephen Frears film isn't much more than a period piece. The setting is London, during the World War II era. Dench plays the real-life title character, a wealthy widow who buys a derelict theater to give… More
  Judi Dench gives a sparkling lead performance, but this lesser known Stephen Frears film isn't much more than a period piece. The setting is London, during the World War II era. Dench plays the real-life title character, a wealthy widow who buys a derelict theater to give herself something to do. She hires a manager (Bob Hoskins) to put together a stage show, and they launch one of those aww-how-cute, bickering relationships. When the show threatens to fail, Mrs. Henderson has the daring idea to add nude girls. She meets bureaucratic resistance from one Lord Cromer (Christopher Guest, surprisingly), but they reach a compromise: the gals can be nude if they remain motionless in the manner of a classy painting or sculpture. From there, the show becomes a great success, especially once England enters the war and young soldiers are looking for nightly entertainment. All of this works so far, and Frears manages the fine trick of blending witty songs into the action without dampening the story's momentum. But the focus is more on vintage hairstyles and costumes than character development, and the film eventually takes a jarring, abrupt turn from musical comedy into wartime drama. By the end, the sentiment has turned rather corny, and a climactic speech from Henderson is more likely to cause eyerolls than tears.

• Mike N

  
  [center][img]http://www.frenchspot.com/Holidays/Valentine/Heart/heart10.jpg[/img][/center] The world swelled with intense emotion this night. A kind of fizzle hissed at the edge of vision, glowing inwardly violet and fiery, focused. It might as well had been a hallucination of… More
  [center][img]http://www.frenchspot.com/Holidays/Valentine/Heart/heart10.jpg[/img][/center] The world swelled with intense emotion this night. A kind of fizzle hissed at the edge of vision, glowing inwardly violet and fiery, focused. It might as well had been a hallucination of euphoria. The breathless violins often had that effect on him, dancing to his ears like merry fauns, crisply twisting the mind like soft-serve ice cream, letting the ice crystals settle neatly across his skin, every hair erect and listening. His heavy drags, thick as moleskin, seem to unfasten to loose, feathery sashes, as he danced with his instrument in hand in the middle of the room. The cellos of the next movement burrowed deep, far below the earth, and sprouted all around him in waves of D Minor. And then, he saw his companion, the woman with whom he'd share this magic affair. He loathed her. Greasy pigtails, deviled lipstick, fake tan. Who allows themselves to sass around with such sodding embroidery and an affray of color schemes? She was simply not suitable for public viewing any further. But, he confessed as the violins retorted, she had one thing going for her. Those twin suns, pocked within her skull full of useless jelly and spun in bristly blonde clumpiness. His mood rose in spite of her face, as the violas joined and sped gracefully like synchronized birds into red areas of his mind, beautiful and previously unexplored. Yes, yes, it was the refracting cadence in her eyes that distracted him most, in a good way. Those magnificent green discs, full of all life and mystery, glittering like fireworks during a victory parade, like gemstones cut by the great hands of God Himself with the sparkle of a hundred thousand karats. He was bonded by her silver gaze, pained by them, vulnerable. The movement evolved into flautists, slowly removing gravity from his mind, and he gasped. Starlight spoke through the window, glaring off her rouge-smathered cheeks and bathed the room in a whitewash of heaven. It must have been her eyes radiating magic, infecting the neighboring regions of her reptilious face, but he could think no more after that. Molecules seem to flit away like quivering flower petals, like windborne seeds instinctively flocking to follow the source of the nourishing light. He became less a man and more the kind of thing you discover at the nucleus of a song. The timbre, the crescendo, unrestrained elevation. How could one exhale? This was divinity. Dizzy, the man pawed through the air for leverage and at last caught the table, transfigured only momentarily as his senses reset. The sound, his sound, had deepened agin, to a solitary oboe, channeling energy into a slow change of tension. It warmed the corrugated steel, but not his leather heart. It was still the same, wretched, beastly girl-thing. Those prisms, he lamented. They are trapped within her wicked shell, like wrongly convicted angels banished to their own hell, or cuckoo clock creatures caught forever in the doorways of their dutiful cycle, leaving protrusions of flesh exposed to the world while courageously concealing unthinkable nightmares within. It was a crime for her to have them, both of them. Why their overpowering beauty hadn't burned and gnarled the rest of her flesh to a wispy pile of red cinder was beyond him. He would have concocted more evil images in his mind, but the strings walled to her defense. He stood there, dimming lightbulb swaying, a purging darkness tensing him. He continued to fend the bravery of the trumpets and their modulating brass friends, watching her eyebrows twitch like small black newts. Tiny sacks of perspiration formed glistening constellations on her forehead, connecting and slipping down her face, scooping the demon's mascara with it, rolling over her duct taped lips. Fear. Fear and heavy strings, slower this time, deeper, darker. Meaningful. Her gorgeous eyes grew more exalted as her brain wires siphoned more fear through the outermost layers of her skin. Almost pop-eyed, they were desperately reaching for him. They wanted to shoot out and be with him. He knew it, and he reciprocated their understanding, vacant of hubris. I will save you tonight, he thought, gently. I will take you with me. The appendages from the others seem to dully vibrate with the double-bass and pounding percussion, the piece drawing to a close. The man grabbed the smudged handle roughly, swinging a dark red orb to the floor. A cold finger, hanging brittlely on the wall, broke mysteriously from its nailed hand and landed on the table.. The snarling girl-thing flailed in her chain harness, pounding against the cold shed wall, pitching through her gag. He yanked the gas cable and revved the only musical instrument he possessed to a furious monotony, raising it above his head in reverence. It was his favorite way to end movements.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]"Mrs. Henderson Presents" starts out in 1937. Robert Henderson has just died, thus leaving his wife, Laura(Judi Dench), a huge sum of money and too much time on her hands. She is encouraged to take up a hobby or a charity to while away her time but… More
  [font=Century Gothic]"Mrs. Henderson Presents" starts out in 1937. Robert Henderson has just died, thus leaving his wife, Laura(Judi Dench), a huge sum of money and too much time on her hands. She is encouraged to take up a hobby or a charity to while away her time but neither work out well.(Especially the embroidery.) A friend suggests that she is free to make purchases now that nobody is looking over her shoulder anymore. She takes this advice by buying a disused theatre, the Windmill, and hires Vivian Van Damm(Bob Hoskins) to manage it for her. He comes up with the idea of doing a continuous musical review which works out very well until every other theatre copies it. Facing ruin, Laura Henderson comes up with a new idea - nude women onstage...[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Mrs. Henderson Presents" is an enjoyably funny movie. Dench(always great) and Hoskins(been too long since he has had such a good part) have wonderful chemistry together. The film is about how people should get involved; enjoy themselves and to not be prudish. The only flaws are that the movie goes out of its way to explain everything and it grandstands a little too much.[/font]

• Sunil J

  
  A raunchy comedy that delivers all through.

• Sarah B

  
  I wanted to see this for Will Young, but ended up falling for Kelly Reilly instead. The 'romance' between Bob Hoskins and Judi Dench doesn't work, but as a portrayal of the blitz spirit, this film more than succeeds. Not as risque as it aims for, it is nonetheless an… More
  I wanted to see this for Will Young, but ended up falling for Kelly Reilly instead. The 'romance' between Bob Hoskins and Judi Dench doesn't work, but as a portrayal of the blitz spirit, this film more than succeeds. Not as risque as it aims for, it is nonetheless an enjoyable, heartwarmingly tragic film.

• Ina S

  
  So british. So good.

• Laurence C

  
  A charming, witty and classy musical that has bite and that doesn't feel dusty or overlong. Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins truly shine.

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