Review: The Time of Their Lives
Helen Shelley is a has-been, Priscilla is a never-was. Together the former movie star and the housewife team up to prove that it's never too late for a second chance at life in the gently rollicking British comedy, The Time of Their Lives.
The film, written and directed by Roger Goldby, is a pleasant affair and would be fairly forgettable if not for its leading ladies, Joan Collins and Pauline Collins, both playing to type yet offering bountiful delights. When first introduced, both women appear entombed in the latter stages of their lives. Helen (Joan) is a former Hollywood glamour queen whose glory days are long past, but who is itching to break out of the state care home in which she resides. Priscilla (Pauline) is stuck in a marriage that presumably was once full of love but has turned into one of convenient familiarity with Frank (Ronald Pickup), who has blamed her for the drowning death of their young son for quite some time.
The two women meet by happenstance when Priscilla accidentally boards the beach-bound bus that Helen and her fellow state care home residents are in. Helen convinces Priscilla to escape to Île de Ré in France. Why Île de Ré? Apart from the lovely scenery, Helen means to attend the funeral of the director who helmed her most successful hit so she can rekindle old industry contacts in the hopes of reviving her career. Along the way, some shenanigans ensue as well as a detour with reclusive Italian artist Alberto (Franco Nero, sure to drop some jaws with his unexpected full-frontal nude scene), whom Helen tries to seduce but who is more attracted to Priscilla.
The Time of Their Lives doesn't break any new ground - in fact, it can be downright pedestrian - but it's an unalloyed pleasure to watch both actresses at work. Pauline Collins is as warm and engaging as ever, very much harking back to her signature role as Shirley Valentine. Joan Collins is deliciously minxish, swaggering like the diva she is (despite Helen's bum hip), ready , though the role allows her to display a more vulnerable side (the scene of her crooning a song written by Leslie Bricusse and former husband Anthony Newley is a poignant highlight) that one wishes more filmmakers had exploited.
The Time of Their Lives
Directed by: Roger Goldby
Written by: Roger Goldby
Starring: Joan Collins, Pauline Collins, Franco Nero, Ronald Pickup, Sian Reeves, Joely Richardson, Allene Quincy
