Blithe Spirit

Showings

Lagoon Park - Marin Center Thu, Oct 8, 2020 7:30 PM
Lagoon Park - Marin Center Fri, Oct 9, 2020 7:30 PM
Film Info
Section:World Cinema
Big Nights: Film
Drive-In
Country:UK
Year:2020
Running Time:95 min.
Premiere Status:World
Language:English
Director:Edward Hall
Screenwriter:Piers Ashworth
Meg Leonard
Nick Moorcroft
Cinematographer:Ed Wild
Cast:Judi Dench
Dan Stevens
Leslie Mann
Isla Fisher
Print Source:IFC Films
Note Writer:K.D. Davis

Description

Screening note: This is a drive-in only screening. Be sure to arrive early as all films will begin on time!

 

Please note: Ticket price is per vehicle. Click here for more information about drive-in screenings.

 

OPENING NIGHT: Oscar® winner Judi Dench ascends to the astral plane as the unctuously inept spiritualist Madame Arcati in Edward Hall’s spectacular adaptation of Noël Coward’s 1941 theatrical hit. Blithe Spirit manifests itself in and around the palatial home of wannabe screenwriter/sponger Charles Condomine (a marvelous Dan Stevens), and his Hollywood-obsessed wife Ruth (a wondrous Isla Fisher). Suffering from a ghastly combination of writers’ block and genuine lack of talent and motivation, Condomine entreats Madame Arcati to conduct a séance in his home, receiving much more than he bargained for, in the shape-shifting form of Elvira (a spellbinding Leslie Mann), his ex-wife and American Dream-cum-nightmare. Add to the mix a guileless housekeeper and a cantankerous cook, and you’ve got a recipe for some otherworldly merriment and mayhem that stands the test of time after time, alongside timely jabs at male chauvinism. Dame Judi truly breaks through to the other side with her diaphanous performance as Arcati, whose attempts to follow The Art of the Séance (wink-wink nudge-nudge) spin an endlessly entertaining yarn.

 

See also: MVFF Conversation: Judi Dench, Tribute & MVFF Award

 

Sponsored By:


Additional Information


Edward Hall is an English theatre director and an associate director at The National Theatre. Hall is known for directing Rose Rage, a stage adaptation of Shakespeare's three Henry VI plays. He also runs an all-male Shakespeare company, Propellor. He began his professional career as a theatre director at the Watermill Theatre in the early 1990s. At the Watermill, Hall directed a number of Shakespeare plays, including Henry V and The Comedy of Errors. Although he has for the most part worked in the theatre, Hall has also done some directing for radio and television. He has directed Into Exile for BBC Radio 4. For television, Hall directed episodes of Downton Abbey and Trial and Retribution.