"Mrs. Palfrey at The Claremont" - Synopsis

Dan Ireland's latest film is the comedy drama, "Mrs Palfrey at The Claremont", based on the best selling novel of the same name, by the late, celebrated English author, Elizabeth Taylor, for Cineville and Picture Entertainment.

The story centers around an elegant elderly lady (Mrs Palfrey) who, after being recently widowed, moves from Scotland to London to be near to her 26 year old grandson, Desmond. When Desmond fails to return any of her several phone calls, or visit her at the resident hotel she is staying (The Claremont), fate brings her together with a young writer, Ludovic Meyer, after she has an accident outside his basement flat.

Eventually, Ludo ends up helping Mrs. Palfrey by playing a charade - pretending to be her grandson, so that the other off-beat elderly residents of the hotel believe that she hasn't been lying, and that she really does have a grandson.

The two newly found friends discover they have a lot more in common with each other then they do with other people their own age.

Ludo inadvertently leads Mrs Palfrey through her past; Mrs Palfrey inadvertently leads Ludo to his future. The young writer finally finds the story he has been looking for all his young life - and Mrs Palfrey finds the 'grandson' she never knew she had. Thus begins a deep-rooted friendship that is far reaching, and everlasting.

Along the way, a few problems arise when her real grandson shows up at the hotel.

The film starts one of the greatest actresses of our time, Dame Joan Plowright (Enchanted April), aka Lady Laurence Olivier, in the largest and most demanding role of her screen career, and introduces a stunning new actor in a leading role, Rupert Friend (The Libertine, Pride and Prejudice). The supporting cast consists of some of the greatest and most respected actors from the Engligh stage, Anna Massey (Peeping Tom, Frenzy), Georgina Hale (Mahler, The Devils, The Boyfriend), Millicent Martin (Alfie), Clare Higgins (this year's Best Actress Olivier Award winner for her performance in Hecuba), and newcomer Zoe Tapper (Stage Beauty). The film was photographed by Claudio Rocha, Ireland's long time cinematographer, with music by Stephen Barton.

The score was produced by Ireland's long time collaborator, Harry Gregson-Williams (Kingdom of Heaven, Domino and Shrek). The film was Produced by Lee Caplin, Zachary Matz and Carl Colpaert.

The screenplay was written by Ruth Sacks, with additional dialogue by Martin Donovan and Dan Ireland.