The British actress, who died on Friday, was Harry Potter’s favorite teacher and the unforgettable Aunt Violet from Downton Abbey. But do you know Maggie Smith as James Ivory’s cousin Charlotte or as a cracked tramp?
Maggie Smith, dans « Indian Palace » Laurie Sparham/Fox Searchlight
Published on September 28, 2024 at 6:00 p.m.
“Death on the Nile” (1978)
A modest role, Miss Bowers, but delicious and in an adaptation of Agatha Christie which is drunk like whey. Everything that underpins the coded and mathematical universe of the writer, sophisticated intrigue, multiple suspects, false leads, collections of clues, is found in this careful entertainment, where sumptuous exoticism and Anglo-Saxon humor are good. household. The passengers all have something to reproach themselves for and excellent reasons to kill.
“The Secret Garden”, by Agnieszka Holland (1993)
Early 20th century: Mary Lennox, 10 years old, has just lost her parents in India. He is sent to the immense manor of his uncle, Lord Craven, in Yorkshire. From the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett – better known to little English people than to the French – filmmaker Agnieszka Holland has drawn a poetic and mysterious coming-of-age story, which never falls into sentimentality. The film owes a lot to the script by Caroline Thompson (screenwriter of Edward Scissorhands) and to a perfect interpretation: the children are the age of their characters, and the actress Maggie Smith offers us a summary of the British spirit .
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r “The Secret Garden”
“Gosford Park”, de Robert Altman (2001)
Gosford Park is the name of a vast property in the middle of rainy country. In the living room, the bosses; in the office and in the kitchens, the servile people. Two micro-societies governed by strict etiquette, called upon to rub shoulders during a hunting trip with Sir William McCordle, a severe aristo who only loves his dog, weapons… and maids. Robert Altman took up a challenge that was new to him at the time: the British costume film, aggregated behind closed doors in the style of Agatha Christie. In the hit parade of this excellent actor’s film, we attribute the Oscar for the old bitch with the bulging eye to Maggie Smith; the César for best angry look to Alan Bates; the grand prize for best chef to Helen Mirren.
“Harry Potter” (2001-2011)
If our preference is for the final episode, of the seven films in the Harry Potter saga, none is really bad, even if, at Teleramawe were able to be harsh towards the former. A vision softened by time, and the madeleine effect for those who watched them with children dazzled by so much magic (and Maggie). From the professional adaptations, but moderately inspired by Chris Colombus, to the existential torments of the last four parts, signed David Yates, rewatching all the Harry Potters is obviously a marathon. Ideal for an autumn weekend.
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p “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”
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p “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”
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r “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”
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q “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”
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q “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”
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q “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
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p “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”, part 1
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r “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, part 2
“Downton Abbey” (2010-2015)
Get out the darjeeling and the silverware! All the charm of old England presides over Downton Abbey, the most aristo series in the history of television. Or the tribulations – more or less daily – of the Earl of Grantham, his family, and all their servants, in their Yorkshire estate, from 1912 to the turn of the 1920s. A work of goldsmith, from the smallest spoon to the greatest emotions. With Maggie Smith, unforgettable as the Dowager Countess of Downton Abbey and her cowardices.
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r “Downton Abbey”
“Indian Palace”, de John Madden (2011)
This comedy, sometimes heavily seasoned with melodrama, convinces more with its squeaky dialogues. To a couple wondering how to celebrate their fortieth wedding anniversary, a woman responds: “With a minute of silence!” » A stay at the Indian Palace is especially recommended for its vermeil card casting – but gold plated. Maggie Smith is a hit as the racist “Auntie Danielle” and the so-British Bill Nighy, in a calmer role than usual, proves, once again, irresistible.
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p “Indian Palace”
“Room with a View”, by James Ivory (1986)
In Victorian England, Lucy, a white goose of high society, is promised to the snob and pedant Cecil, but without admitting it loves George, a young, unsuitable free-thinker…
Among the many period films signed by James Ivory, only his meetings with Forster, the English writer from the beginning of the 20th century, raised the filmmaker higher than his taste for chromo. Three films came from it: Return to Howards End, Maurice, and Room with a View. The latter’s half-Florentine, half-Victorian charm has not evaporated. Maggie Smith plays Charlotte, the stiff older cousin of the impetuous Helena Bonham Carter.
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q “Room with a view”
“The Lady in the van”, de Nicolas Hytner (2015)
True story: for fifteen years, in London, a slightly cracked old lady lived in a van parked in front of the home of the writer Alan Bennett. He wrote a book about it, then the script for this film. The story, rather plan-plan and linear, takes place without much imagination on the same street corner, between two families of somewhat caricatured neighbors. But from the first appearance of Maggie Smith, all is forgiven. The great actress finds here a perfect “vehicle” for her eccentricity and her talent.
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p “The Lady in the van”
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Maggie Smith, the favorite leading lady of English cinema, is dead
