OLDIES ARE SCREEN GOLD

DAME Maggie Smith is so right when she says not enough films are made about the later stages of life. The film world, like almost every other, prefers not so much to ignore old age as deny its existence altogether.

Instead, it’s obsessed with youth, which is the reason so many other actresses have facelifts, Botox and fillers, in the hope that they’ll eke out their careers a little longer.

Such attempts are counterproductive, because what we need to see is more old faces on screen. In this respect, Dame Maggie and Judi Dench are fighting a brave, but lonely battle.

At 77, neither looks as though they’ve had what the Americans call ‘work’, yet Dame Judi is starring in James Bond, while Dame Maggie is giving the performance of her life as the Dowager Countess in Downton Abbey. On Sunday, she provided a masterclass in why we should celebrate it on screen whenever possible. ‘Oh Carson,’ she said heavily, arriving at the Abbey after the death of Lady Sybil. ‘We’ve been through some terrible times, you and I, but none so terrible as this.’

She walked towards the drawing room leaning heavily on her stick and then, blinking away tears, threw back her black veil and concentrated on offering comfort to the devastated family. The message — that tragedy is survivable and life must go on — was conveyed in a scene that lasted less than a minute. It was a product not just of Dame Maggie’s considerable talent, but her equally considerable years.