Plowright imbues tremendous dignity into the character, deftly delineated in Ruth Sacks’ screenplay based on a novel by British writer Elizabeth Taylor. Mrs. Palfrey contacts her grandson, who doesn’t come to see her for a time. Meanwhile, a handsome young and personable man, an aspiring writer named Ludovic Meyer, helps her when she falls in the street and a warm friendship develops. Needing to show the others in the hotel that she has somebody, she gets Ludovic to pretend that he is her grandson. Of course, there are complications when her real grandson turns up at an inconvenient moment, as does her daughter.

Rupert Friend, who also plays Wickham in the new “Pride and Prejudice,” is exceedingly appealing as Ludovic, and one can see him as a burgeoning romantic leading man in future films. He also gets a turn of romance here, when he meets Gwendolyn (Zoe Tapper) in a video store. Their relationship sparks Mrs. Palfrey’s memories of her own happy relationship with her late husband and gives us a feeling of life’s joys and the importance of taking advantage of every moment.

The fine supporting cast includes Anna Massey in a memorable performance as the lonely, outspoken Mrs. Arbuthnot, who befriends Mrs. Palfrey when she arrives. Each of the characters depicted are well-etched, as is the hotel itself, a stuffy none-too-comfortable place with institution-like food. Sadness pervades, but as layers are revealed, the film makes the point that there are hopes and dreams within everyone, and no one should be taken for granted.