My Old Lady

(2014) 12 Saturday, 9pm, BBC2 Mathias (Kevin Kline, above) is a down-and-out writer and recovering alcoholic from New York, who arrives in Paris to sell the property he recently inherited from his estranged father. His plans for making a fortune are derailed when he meets the residents of the apartment – ninetysomething Mathilde (Maggie Smith), an English teacher, and her daughter, Chloe (Kristin Scott Thomas). Mathias is confounded by an archaic French law that permits Mathilde, the former owner, to live in the apartment until she dies. From this complicated impasse emerges a beautifully acted, refined drama, with subtle dashes of comedy and great emotional depth. As the tensions between heart, home, money and legacy ebb and flow between them, the connections between the three characters deepen.