Lily in Love (1984) User Reviews

Starts off fun...gets better...then crashes and burns.

[Doctor-11 · 5/10 · 24 November 2003]

First off, let me say that I believe Dame Maggie Smith to be the classiest actress in cinema. Her eyes are mesmerizing - she can look so coy and yet still patronize with a little curl in her grin. She certainly does not disappoint in this tale of comedic deception and romance.

The set-up is cute...Christopher Plummer plays Fitz Wynn, a truly talented but overly-satisfied stage actor who wants to star in a new movie written by his wife, Lily (Smith). Lily doesn't feel her Fitz is right for the part, and explains to him why and what she's looking for in the role. Fitz proceeds to orchestrate his own transformation (with the reluctant assistance of his agent) into Roberto Terranova, a blonde Italian who seems to be exactly what Lily wants. His deception seems successful, but does Lily want Roberto for more than just her movie?

It is at this point where the movie struggles - the initial delicious tension goes bland with redundancies; and although some wit is regained at the climax, the movie struggles through some sort of resolution, leaving us wondering just when the credits will roll?

Plummer does fine - his 'tantrums' seem contrived, but I don't really blame him. Smith is as witty as a lady can be with this material, which seems so dated now - especially the music (groan). As for the rest of the cast, Elke Sommer is totally wasted, and the remainders are unrecognizable and unimpressive.

In summary, the sole reason to watch *Lily in Love* is to watch Maggie Smith. She is graceful, she is radiant, and she is the perpetual professional. Rating 5/10 for the film :: 10/10 for Dame Maggie Smith

So funny!

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 21 March 2021]

I have to admit, I don't usually find Christopher Plummer likable, but in Lily in Love, he was so cute! Playing a ham actor, he manages to show the audience exactly how self-centered he is and also extract sympathy. His wife, Maggie Smith, is a brilliant playwright and famous in her own right, and she always casts him in the lead role of her plays. While he soaks up the spotlight, she'd rather stay in a corner with her typewriter. It's the perfect arrangement; as anyone in the arts knows, a marriage can't survive with two egos competing for top billing.

When Maggie writes a screenplay and doesn't want Chris to play the lead, it wounds him. She insists he simply isn't right for the part. It's a story of an unhappily married woman on vacation who falls for a sensitive European. Chris begs, throws tantrums, auditions-but Maggie's mind is made up. Just this once, she's going to find a different leading man. Have you ever known an Actor? Do you think Chris will take the rejection lying down? No! He turns to his agent, (do you know that familiar face? It's Adolph Green!) as a co-conspirator. On goes a blonde wig, a fake nose, smooth lip to cover his mustache, and blue contacts. Adolph tells Maggie about a hot new star from Italy; she takes one look at the gorgeous headshot and casts Chris's alter ego!

You might find it odd that she doesn't recognize her own husband just because he's got a blonde wig on, but that's part of the fun of the movie. When the filming begins, and Chris puts on his Italian accent, Maggie's utterly charmed. But does she suspect anything? The entire movie will have you laughing and wondering whether she does or doesn't. Ladies, if you've ever been frustrated that your husband doesn't listen to you or only cares about himself, this movie is for you. You might find the plot of this movie familiar, and there have been other versions. I've seen My Geisha, which features a gender reversal, but Lily in Love is infinitely better. It's so funny, and Christopher Plummer is so funny - and gorgeous - in it!

Great team saves tedious update of classic play.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 4 August 2014]

For the first three quarters of this update of "The Guardsman", everything is fine. But once the plot wraps up, the film continues needlessly and totally goes off track. If it wasn't for stars Maggie Smith and Christopher Plummer, the film might sink into total boredom, but the likability of their characters and their individual charm makes the film much more tolerable.

Smith and Plummer take over the famous roles originated by Lynn Fontanne and Alfred Lunt years before in their only appearance together on screen. She is a film producer searching for the perfect leading man and he is her stage actor husband upset that she considers him to be wrong for the part. She also makes him slightly jealous by looking at only the hunkiest of men, so Plummer decides to disguise himself as an Italian "from the north" who happens to be blonde but obviously not as young as the otherwise actors she considered. It is obvious that she knows the ruse being pulled on her even though she never verbalizes it. Smith gives a soft but sly performance, playing one of her most gently characters, while Plummer gets to chew the scenery a bit, especially in the final quarter which makes little sense. Smith has a sweet moment when she reveals to the disguised Plummer that a woman never reveals the truth about what she thinks of a man in bed, whether it be good or bad.

The stage roots of this story are made all the more obvious because of the fact that Smith and Plummer seem more theatrical than cinematic. Toss in theater legend Adolph Green as Plummer's co-conspirator pal for further evidence of that. Elke Sommer is relatively over the top as the film within the film's leading lady. I enjoyed it overall in spite of some slow moving areas and the situation which carries the plot long after Plummer's facade has been revealed.

Total oddity

[Neil_UK · 7 October 2009]

I got this as a Maggie Smith nut - I've seen her on stage a number of times, and have been craving a film from her which matches the comic intensity which I've seen in the theatre.

Alas, this bizarre misfire doesn't give her a great deal to do. The other people have summed up the plot, so I'll just say that as a romantic comedy, this just doesn't cut the mustard.

The lighting (in the copy I saw, at least) looks more film noir than romcom - everything is dark and gloomy, reminiscent of Gordon Willis's cinematography for the office scenes in The Godfather.

Christopher Plummer has the kind of role John Barrymore used to play in his talkies - the cliché of the egotistical, verse-spouting actor. He does it very well, but his face is too dour to really charm as the hammy romantic lead. He does a good job with the young Italian, and is quiet funny there... but the dialogue and gags are lame.

And harking back to the old romcoms of the golden age, which often featured studio recreations of European capitals: alas, Budapest in the mid-80s looks dreadfully bleak - presumably the funding came from there, and part of the deal was to shoot it in the Hungarian capital. It looks terribly depressing and grey.

Maggie Smith looks lovely (when you can see her - that shadowy cinematography!) but even she can't weave the straw of the dialogue into gold (something she's usually able to do). California Suite, and bits of Murder by Death, seem to be the only film to really show here sophisticated comedienne stuff off on film.

Lily in Love, then, is one for total Maggie completists only (like me).

(By the way, the best 'lost' Maggie Smith film is definitely 'Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing' - seek it out, it's on DVD.)

Enter The Guardsman

[writers_reign · 5/10 · 14 May 2009]

The burning question here is should we call it irony or chuzpah to rip off a celebrated play by the equally celebrated Hungarian playwright, Ferenc Molnar - the play in question, The Guardsman, was a triumph for Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontane both on stage and screen - and then contrive to have the central device - a deception - occur in Hungary when it could have occurred anywhere. The Lunts filmed The Guardsman in 1931 so this outfit probably figured that by 1984 no one was going to notice that Maggie Smith and Christopher Plummer were standing in for Alfred and Lynne. The plot is lightest gossamer; as Molnar wrote it an egomaniacal actor (is there any other kind) was so consumed with jealousy of being cuckolded by his actress wife that he assumed the identity of a guardsman in order to seduce her. This time around the man is still an actor but the wife in now a playwright and is adamant that the leading man in her new screenplay is not for her husband. Cue the husband disguising himself as an Italian actor, seducing his own wife etc. There are some nice bitchy 'actorish/showbiz' lines and Smith and Plummer are up to snuff as the two leads but Adolph Green acts as badly as he writes and the rest of the cast are nowhere. Ho-hum to mediocre.

its got maggie smith

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 5 July 2021]

Fitzroy (christopher plummer) will do anything for a role in the new play his wife Lily (the amazing maggie smith) has just written. She doesn't think he's right for the part, and lately, he's been drinking so much, she's not sure if he could even do the part. So Fitz takes measures to make sure he gets the part. Co-stars Elke Sommers as Alicia, and Adolph Greene (two writer nominations!) as Jerry, the agent. It starts as a (very) slow boil; it's listed as a comedy on imdb, but there isn't much comedy until about halfway through. The first half is just setting the scene. Showing us how things are, between husband and wife. Of course, there's a big showdown when all is revealed. But who knew what... when? Directed by hungarian Károly Makk; he has wons zillions of film festival awards. Based on a play by Ferenc Molnár. This one is rated pretty low on imdb. A shame. It's not maggie smith's funniest film, but it is a very good one.

Surprisingly layered

[richard_ferdman · 6/10 · 4 December 2023]

I was expecting a shallow movie and was surprised at the cunning levels - dealing with our imperfections, the lies we won't admit to ourselves, the lies we want others to believe, our fears of getting older/being bypassed, and the engaging acting of Plummer and smith made it real and accessible.

Contrary to a couple of reviews I felt the movie got stronger as the reality of the duplicitous actions and the animated hurt are unwound into an intelligent drama.

I felt a few scenes could be cut out (e.g. The wind machine malfunction) to make the drama flow better. Plummer's character's needy behavior was a bit too much but some aged men get that way as they cope with their fears.