The “Crime Club of Thursday”, the new Netflix adaptation signed by Chris Columbus, comes to the surface as a British police comedy with charismatic seniors, but in depth becomes a reflection on old age, dignity and visibility. Through Sir Ben Kingsley and Celia Imrie, the film talks about how the Senectute was not a quiet withdrawal, but a territory of resistance, curiosity and relevance that the rushed society tends to forget.
Sir Ben Kingsley (81 years old) and Celia Ingrie (73 years old). Photo: Netflix
“The Thursday Murder Club”, one of the most tasty Netflix productions, brings to the fore a group of four seniors who do not surrender to the senectations and find a less common concern: resolving crimes. The distribution is an Oscar in the true sense of the word; Thus, we have Helen Mirren in the role of Elizabeth Best, a former (very agile) spy, Pierce Brosnan in the role of Ron Ritchie, a former union leader, Sir Ben Kingsley in the role of Ibrahim Arif, a withdrawn psychiatrist, and Celia Imrie as Joyce Meadowcroft, a former assistant.
On the comfortable corridors of the Coopers Chase home, where the polished floors shine, the big windows let the light enter, and the old age is meant to be a quiet one, the extremely popular world of Richard Osman in the book “The Thursday Murder Club” (published in 2020) finds its cinematic correspondent. Although the adaptation of Netflix, made by the American director Chris Columbus – the “magician” who put in the history of “Harry Potter” cinema, “Home Alone” and “Mrs. Doubtfire” -, it seems to be, on the surface, a story about some British seniors who solve crimes with a slice of cake in front and no care. But beyond this serene image, there is something much more fragile and vulnerable: the way age model the identity of people and the way the characters carry the weight of the years. This story belongs, first of all, to Ibrahim Arif and Joyce Meadowcroft.
The club of seniors passionate about resolving crimes. Photo: Netflix
Interpreted by Sir Ben Kingsley (81 years old) and Celia Ingrie (73 years old), these two characters are at the emotional poles of the film. Ibrahim, played by Sir Kingsley, is a retirement psychiatrist, a true encyclopedia, who has taken the ability to listen-quietly, patiently-in this late chapter of life. Joyce, played by Ingrie, is a newcomer in the home in a former monastery, a former widowed nurse, with a bright face and a desire to make friends. Together, it forms a kind of counterpoint: he retires in thoughts, he leans to the community. If the “Crime Club of Thursday” is, finally, a movie about how people are facing invisibility in old age, then Ibrahim and Joyce are the most living explorations of this theme.
The wisdom of listening and looking
Sir Ben Kingsley approaches Ibrahim not as a caricature of the “smart old man”, but as someone whose mind has been improved for decades by the absorption of the pain of others. His dialogue is clear, concise, his constant gaze, and his presence is one of taxation rather than bravada. When the club members reveal the mysteries around them, Ibrahim observes details that others overlook – not only in the cases, but also on the faces of his friends, in their escapes, in their pain. The psychiatrist became the detective, although his methods are not interrogative, but careful observations, almost Czech in their restraint. He is the proof that wisdom can be dramatic, that peace can dominate a room. The film alludes to a lifetime of scars and revelations, but it rarely stops enough to really fight with them. Kingsley fills the gaps with silence – his interpretation, not the scenario, offers gravity.
Coopers Chase seniors have found a helpful help inside the police. Photo: Netflix
Chris Columbus went straight to the target with the election of the actors, themselves at the senectute. After interpreting roles in which wisdom was the main quality and the penetrating look was the basic weapon-such as Gandhi (for which the Oscar won), Itzhak Stern in the “Schindler’s list” or Georges Méliès in “Hugo”-, we wonder what could bring to Sir Kingsley the new role, what could find out. “I think it was not a discovery, but rather a side of ours that was intensified by the quartet (no-the team of four actors distributed in the main roles) and the filming process, in the sense that we discovered each other, through the camera, in an extremely pleasant way. And it is a process that continues. The greatest gifts that the universe can offer to a person: the kind curiosity and desire to know the other.said Sir Ben Kingsley exclusively for “Weekend Adevărul”.
The joy of being
Joyce, in contrast, is all a joy. Imrie cheers her with a bright warmth, a gentle insistence on being seen. Recently widow, Joyce arrives at Coopers Chase with the pain of loneliness, the kind of loneliness that can make someone invisible even in a crowded room. What he wants is the connection, and what he offers instead is care. Her little domestic gestures – arranging a brochure, discussion about sweetness – are not trivial, but self -recovery strategies, ways to say that later in life she still builds, does, still matter. Imrie interprets her without irony. There is brightness, but also a melancholy awareness of life as quickly changes its shape. It is the tender side of the sharp humor of the Crime Club, a reminder that justice does not mean only to catch the culprits, but also to render the dignity of those left behind.
Celia Imrie, in the role of a nice former assistant of cakes. Photo: Netflix
Celia Imrie, as bright and smiling as her character, stressed in the interview for “Weekend Adevărul” how important is the constant discovery of the one next to you – in this case, of the plateau colleagues: “It was a barely perceptible challenge how we approached-and it is unusual. First of all, day after day, we four went together on the plateau. So, gradually, we got to know each other a little better. But there are still surprises – even today I discovered something surprising about Sir Ben (they laugh both). It was a very natural process. But I also had a rich context, bidder, and it is clear in the film, which surprised me: that I was all there and it was worth it. “
Beyond clichés
Together, Ibrahim and Joyce sketch a wider cultural truth: aging is not a monolith. On the one hand, we have the detachment of someone who has spent a career in silent authority; On the other hand, the desire of a woman who was defined by the service brought to others – by wife, mother, assistant – but now seeks a new role. They both resist the usual film cliché for old age. They are not just nice pensioners who make their way through adventures, nor wise people who offer life lessons. On the contrary, there are complicated individuals who negotiate their relevance in a society that tends to not look for them once their hair is embarrassed.
About clichés, but especially about the way the young generations perceive those who crossed the senectation threshold, Sir Ben Kingsley says with sadness and concern at the same time: “I want to leave them free. But, however, I think this film repairs or strengthens the generational thread which, in certain cultures, is in great danger of breaking. And I hope, for the good of all generations, to reconnect in a way that involves love and obedience. From an illusion that someone wants to sell you..
The four veterans of the cinema, brought together by Chris Columbus. Photo: Netflix
Kingsley and Ingrie, their own veterans, embody how the late years of life are full of resistance and not just fragility, and how every man tries to keep his uniqueness until the last moment. “I think the film will look very clear that we continue, we do not stop, we use our minds. That’s the key, I think. We all use our minds differently, we have our different approaches to life. We are very different. But I hope the movie shows that it has nothing to do with slowing or stopping. We simply go further, despite our age … apparent “, she pointed out to Celia.
Through Ibrahim and Joyce, the “Crime Club of Thursdays” offers something richer, even if not always fully achieved: a portrait about people who are still in motion, still ask questions, who still insist on relevance. Sir Kingsley and Ingrie do not only interpret characters who solve crimes, but who solve the enigma of what it means to continue to live fully when the world assumes that you have already said good.
