My Old Lady

"He's in the will. She's in the way."

2014 1h 47m EN

😐

6.2

MID

★6.2TMDB · 291

RomanceComedyDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Mathias Gold is a down-on-his-luck New Yorker who inherits a Parisian apartment from his estranged father. But when he arrives in France to sell the vast domicile, he's shocked to discover a live-in tenant who is not prepared to budge. His apartment is a viager—an ancient French real estate system with complex rules pertaining to its resale—and the feisty Englishwoman Mathilde Girard, who has lived in the apartment with her daughter Chloé for many years, can by contract collect monthly payments from Mathias until her death.

“He's in the will. She's in the way.”

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Cast

Maggie Smith
Mathilde Girard
Kevin Kline
Mathias Gold
Kristin Scott Thomas
Chloé Girard
Dominique Pinon
Monsieur Lefebvre
Michael Burstin
Rabbi on Bicycle
Elie Wajeman
Man at Gate
Noémie Lvovsky
Dr. Florence Horowitz
Stéphane De Groodt
Phillippe

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Israel Horovitz
Writers: Israel Horovitz
Languages: English
Countries: France, United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 12 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

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International production across 3 countries: France, United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Israel Horovitz, shot by Michel Amathieu. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Mark Orton. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Stephan Ahn shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Maggie Smith and Kevin Kline and Kristin Scott Thomas carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "He's in the will. She's in the way.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt2908856 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Israel Horovitz directs. Michel Amathieu behind the camera. Mark Orton scores. Stephan Ahn cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in France, United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 12 years ago.
2International production across 3 countries: France, United Kingdom, United States of America.
3Directed by Israel Horovitz, shot by Michel Amathieu. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Mark Orton. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Stephan Ahn shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Maggie Smith and Kevin Kline and Kristin Scott Thomas carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "He's in the will. She's in the way.".
8IMDB entry: tt2908856 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Michel Amathieu
Original score: Mark Orton
Editing: Stephan Ahn
Production design: Pierre-François Limbosch
Costume design: Jacqueline Bouchard
Makeup / hair: Pascale Bouquière
Sound: Martin Czembor
Runtime: 107 min · 1h 47m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $5,000,000
Box office: $7,527,232
Return: 151% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: My Old Lady (2014)

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-01-05
★ 6/10
I wish someone would have left me an apartment in Paris's Marais district. A lively and vibrant area of the city with some gorgeous old architecture. I might not have been so enamoured, however, if I'd been left a ninety-two year old woman as a lodger to whom I had to pay €2,400 per month too! That's the viager. An ancient bit of common law that enables someone to effect a sort of sale and leaseback arrangement that entitles them to live in, and collect rent from, an house they've already sold! Clever, eh? Who better to portray such a crafty old woman than Dame Maggie Smith, and her "Mathilde" is more than ready for the visiting heir to the property "Mathias/Jim" (Kevin Kline) when he comes to claim his inheritance. He's perplexed, to put it mildly, and that only gets worse when he meets her daughter "Chloé" (Kristen Scott-Thomas) who's convinced he's evil incarnate. He hasn't a word of French and is completely at the mercy of these two women - so he'd better get his act together before they end up owning his shoes too. This starts off really quite strongly with the three characters bouncing nicely off each other with a sort of gentle menace emanating from Dame Maggie and a more vitriolic one from Scott-Thomas as poor Kline goes from hapless to helpless in half an hour. Thereafter, though, it starts to run too much to sentiment and that sparky element becomes subsumed in too much familial clutter. It all becomes a little too contrived, soapy, and the writing just runs out of steam. It's nicely shot, showing off the ordinary streets of Paris and it's characters, and at times is really quite fun to see them spatting, but in the end isn't quite the sum of it's parts.

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