Roseland is somewhat misshapen but never awkard; it's easy to accept the three-story structure because the actors are so charming. The longest and most involved section is in the middle, leaving a slightly fantastic story to lead off and a bittersweet one for an ending. All three tales serve the theme of aging well and hang together as a unit.

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's script treats its elderly characters without undue sentiment, in a framing story that emphasizes their romantic predicaments. Our faces brighten as soon as we see the beloved Teresa Wright (The Little Foxes, The Best Years of Our Lives), but we soon realize that she's playing a realistic widow. May doesn't really accept that her husband is gone, and only comes to Roseland out of boredom. When she sees visions of her younger self in a mirror, she lives for little else. The episode is a portrait of the kind of senility that grants people the sight of what they want to see. Equally charming is Lou Jacobi, the independent gentleman who puts up with May's demands but finds himself becoming attached to her - if only she'd take him seriously for a moment.

The middle section sets up a romantic foursome, three women interested in the same man. Geraldine Chaplin has plans to rebuild her life with the attractive Christopher Walken, but he's just a gigolo, a pampered bird unwilling to face reality or turn away from his keeper. He has feelings for many women, mainly to feed his vanity, and his promises are sincere but irresponsible. Chaplin's illusions have already been experienced by Helen Gallagher, Roseland's dance instructor, who knows there's no point in trying to dissuade the younger woman. She also harbors an interest in Russel. The episode shows how people can spend years waiting for the wrong man to make up his mind.

The third episode is the shortest and the slightest, a simple character study of another pair of retirees. Needing company and being lonely don't always translate into a willingness to compromise with the desires of another person, especially at that age; poor David Thomas woos Lilia Skala as best he can, but all he can extract from her is a song or two. This episode is direct in its dealings with mortality and has a particularly satisfying, if downbeat finale.

Roseland dance hall welcomes people in fancy evening dress and others almost in street clothes; it appears sometimes to be a waxworks of older folks not yet ready to kick off, still looking for some lost romantic dream. There are plenty of graceful dances to old standards before a live orchestra, with Don De Natale complimenting everyone on the floor, no matter how broken-down they might look (the actor worked part-time at the Roseland). There's a slight spookiness to the whole thing, just enough to conjure memories of Carnival of Souls; for some, the Roseland ballroom is a place to go to die.

This is director Ivory's third film shot in America, and his actors treat us with nuanced, interesting performances. We expect Lou Jacobi in small character parts, but he gets to play a rounded lead here. Lilia Skala and Teresa Wright are two older ladies who couldn't be more different. It's a minor film with a consistently surprising tone.

Home Vision's release of Merchant Ivory Productions' Roseland can boast a handsome enhanced transfer with nary a flaw. The series is actually produced by Criterion in New York, with Marc Walkow as supervisor. There's an informative essay by Robert Emmet Long in the liner insert, but no other extras this time out.

On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, Roseland rates:
Movie: Excellent
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements: none; liner essay
Packaging: Keep case
Reviewed: December 10, 2004