Capturing Maggie Smith And Judi Dench Off Tape

They first worked together in the late 1950s when they were cast in a production of "As You Like It." Smith played Celia, the second lead, while Dench was Phebe, one of those lower-tier Shakespearean bumpkins. Each went on to do stellar and varied stage work: Smith's credits range from Desdemona in "Othello," with Laurence Olivier, to the hugely popular comedy "Lettice and Lovage" in both London and New York, and Dench's include "Macbeth," with Ian McKellen, and the London production of "Cabaret," in which she played Sally Bowles.

In the past few years, they've performed in several projects together, among them Franco Zeffirelli's "Tea With Mussolini" and David Hare's play "Breath of Life." But before their joint appearance in "A Room With a View" in 1985, they hadn't seen much of each other in some time.

"We were doing lots of other things," Dench says perkily.

"Lots of other things," Smith echoes.

"Maggie was getting married, I was getting married," Dench continues. "It wasn't really until 'Room With a View' that we suddenly found ourselves flying to Italy on the same plane."

The conversation turns to "Ladies in Lavender," which Dance wrote and directed. Set in 1936, the movie is a portrait of the sisters' emotional lives and an unraveling of the mystery of the young man they nurse back to health. Shot in the space of a month, it was apparently a pleasure to make.

"I didn't have to do much directing, anyway," says Dance, himself an actor of note. "I think there were two occasions when I was so bold as to suggest a slightly different turn or a move at a particular time. The joy of having people like this is that they don't arrive with an entourage and they come onto the set and do the job better than anybody else."

Since the distraction of the recording device has unnerved me, it only makes sense that I should unnerve everybody else with an observation about the film. I innocently suggest that in the first few minutes of "Ladies in Lavender," before we know they are sisters, the nature of the relationship between Dench's character and Smith's remains vague, and that "lavender" is a color suggestive of a certain type of love.

At the outset, the actresses are seen walking together on a beach. "The first scene," I point out, "ends with the two of you going up the stairs to bed."

The women stare back at me incredulously.

"Oh, please!" Dench declares. "You're filthy-minded!"

Smith chimes in, in her best Miss Jean Brodie voice: "You've got a dirty, filthy mind!"