American Friends

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

937

YOUR RATING

Trini Alvarado, Michael Palin, and Connie Booth in American Friends (1991)

Reverend Francis Ashby, a senior Oxford don on vacation alone in the Alps, meets vacationing American Miss Caroline Hartley and her companion Miss Elinor Hartley, the blossoming Irish-American girl she adopted many years before. Ashby finds he enjoys their company, particularly that of Elinor, and both of the women are drawn to him. Back at Oxford he is nevertheless taken aback when they arrive unannounced. Women are not allowed in the College grounds, let alone the rooms. Indeed any liaison, however innocent, is frowned on by the upstanding Fellows.

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Costume Drama Comedy Drama Romance

Reverend Francis Ashby (Sir Michael Palin), a senior Oxford don on vacation alone in the Alps, meets vacationing American Miss Caroline Hartley (Connie Booth) and her companion Miss Elinor H... Read allReverend Francis Ashby (Sir Michael Palin), a senior Oxford don on vacation alone in the Alps, meets vacationing American Miss Caroline Hartley (Connie Booth) and her companion Miss Elinor Hartley (Trini Alvarado), the blossoming Irish-American girl she adopted many years before.... Read allReverend Francis Ashby (Sir Michael Palin), a senior Oxford don on vacation alone in the Alps, meets vacationing American Miss Caroline Hartley (Connie Booth) and her companion Miss Elinor Hartley (Trini Alvarado), the blossoming Irish-American girl she adopted many years before. Ashby finds he enjoys their company, particularly that of Elinor, and both of the women a... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

937

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination total

Videos1

Trailer 2:12

Trailer

Photos6

User reviews15

6.4937

Featured reviews

cmyklefty

Michael Palin best acting role.

Remembering watching American Friends, this is the first time I see Michael Palin at a more serious role. I completely enjoy watching this film. Palin plays an Oxford professor who falls for an American woman (Connie Booth) and her daughter (Trini Alvarado). A wonderful acted film and the scenery is breathtaking to watch. Well worth the effort to see.

7lquick

A wonderfully subtle look at love in period costumes

A lovely, thoughtful look at love between a professor and a young woman. Has a nice sense of period without stuffiness or artifice, good humorous observations, nice subtle acting. A great alternative to those overstuffed, melodramatic Merchant-Ivory type films. Also check out Palin's "The Missionary"; it's a little more broad but quite funny, and Maggie Smith is a treasure.

9Sophie-18

A well-made, worthwhile film.

This film, based on the journals of Michael Palin's great-grandfather, is of course humorous, but also teaches a valuable lesson. The script is fantastic, the camera work is beautiful, the acting is superb, and the story, while entertaining, is also quite deep. A must-see for anyone looking for a good film.

Tommy-60

A wonderful and gentle film

Michael Palin shows that he has grown beyond his Monty Python days, but he has not left them far behind. His droll portrayal of an Oxford fellow, one who must avoid marriage at all costs, is sheer delight. He meets and cannot avoid falling in love with an American woman, but it is the depth and sincerity of his love that surprises him and us. The cinematography is stunning in Switzerland, and all dark days and wooden paneling in Oxford, in both cases conveying a metaphor for Palin's interior struggle. Wonderful and gentle.

9lucas-38

An excellent film about 19th century university life.

There is plenty of atmosphere in this film. It portrays the conflict that occurred in the universities of the day (1866) between the traditional and the newer blood that was required to bring the universities into the modern world. It is almost an allegory showing the old world (Oxford) as it battles against the influence of new ideas represented by the new world (the 'American Friends'). Michael Palin is excellent in the role of Mr. Ashby. Throughout the film he portrays in a wonderful manner the bewilderment of facing the challenge of coming to terms with new order represented by Mr. Sime (Alfred Molina) in the challenge for the presidency of the college. In the end he follows his heart (and probably his head as well) and leaves the old world to its devices. Well worth watching.