LOS ANGELES - At 84 years old, Miriam Margolyes knows what it's like to be elderly.
So when she was offered a script by a first-time writer-director that tackles ageing and loneliness, she jumped at it.
"I knew this was good," she told AFP of the Oscar-nominated short film "A Friend of Dorothy."
"The truth, the emotion is real, the drama is not forced. It's very organic. So I just thought: 'I want this'."
The 20-minute piece, which also stars Stephen Fry, is a delightful meditation on the importance of connecting with another human being -- across generations and races.
Dorothy -- like Margolyes still razor sharp, but with a body that she says is failing her -- lives alone in a rambling London house.
One afternoon, the young J.J. rings her doorbell to ask for his ball back after kicking it into her garden.
The ball is quickly forgotten when J.J. (Alistair Nwachukwu) discovers her vast collection of plays, from which she encourages him to read aloud.
Their unlikely friendship is cast when she divines his -- presumably unacknowledged -- homosexuality, along with his obvious talent for acting.
In what become daily visits, the friendship blossoms and the two tearfully understand that they finally feel "seen."
Dorothy's life -- her husband long dead, her son living on the other side of the world and a grandson absorbed by making money -- is sadly nothing unusual, the actress told AFP.
"The predicament of an old lady alone is not unique," said Margolyes, a BAFTA winner for her role in Martin Scorsese's "The Age of Innocence."
"Unfortunately, so many millions of old people are shipwrecked alone.
"And we're cut off by technology. It doesn't help us to reach each other -- it divides us."