Bittersweet "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"

This is a film about retired English folk becoming ex-pats by checking in to a retirement home for the "elderly and beautiful", in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Nothing like showing the British temperament than having ex-colonials experiencing the ex-colonies for the first time (except in one case of a return visit after 40 years absence following a childhood spent in Jaipur, 150 miles southwest of Delhi). We loved it!

Marigold at www.Flowers.vg

The cast was magnificent: Maggie Smith as an unreconstructed racist; her transformation during the film is heartening. Judie Dench as the narrator (through her blog), adrift without her recently deceased husband, trying to find meaning in life. Bill Nighy as a retired civil servant, struggling to come to terms with the loss of his pension investment and beleaguered by an embittered, sharp-tongued wife played to perfection by Penelope Wilton. Tom Wilkinson as a retired, gay judge who has come to find his childhood sweetheart (male). Ronald Pickup as a lonely man looking for companionship, rejected by Celia Imrie's character but finding an equally lonely and willing woman played by Diana Hardcastle. Greeting them in India were the hotel manager (Dev Patel), an affable but hopeless business man; his aggressive and prejudiced mother (Lillete Dubey), and his girlfriend (Tina Desae) who has a university degree and works at a call center.

Culture clashes are only half the story but provide a lot of laughs. Maggie won't eat anything she "can't pronounce", Celia won't stay in a room that has no door, all are terrified by a crowded bus ride, Judie pays full price at the market, many are traumatized by the dust, noise, and confusion of the busy streets. But underneath are the voices of calm: Dev assuring that everything will be "all right in the end", Tom seeing the light and the colours and happy smiles, Judie offering philosophical takes on life, and Bill acting the understated adventurer.

We asked an acquaintance of ours from India whether the film was accurately portrayed. She said yes, everything but the Dev and Tina love relationship which she said simply couldn't happen in India: no public displays of affection or going against your mother's wishes.

The idea of 'out-sourcing old age' is not new. The Japanese tried to built a retirement complex on Australia's Gold Coast in the 1980s (the Silver Columbia Project) but failed due to bad press and criticisms of exporting the aged (Merry White 2002). A couple of years ago, doctors in the British ex-pat communities of the Alicante region began to refuse patients unless they could speak Spanish.

The isolation some characters in this film felt is real, and no indication was given of visa or work visa status – two huge hurdles in moving abroad. But how many of any country are willing to sever all ties and activities with their families, neighbourhoods, and communities to try living abroad with people they have never met.  Not everyone is adventurous, but when financial needs dictate, people draw on unknown reserves. It was a very thought-provoking film while being wildly entertaining.

White, Merry Isaacs (2002) Perfectly Japanese. University of California Press.