In the "Chicago Tribune", Robert K. Elder awarded the film two out of a possible four stars and added: "exemplifies that kind of polite, underdramatic "Masterpiece Theatre" staging that can either provide a surgical examination of English society or bore the pants off you. "Ladies in Lavender" does a bit of both... director Dance's momentum fades soon after Andrea's ankle mends, and we're left with a vague back story involving Andrea's intent to emigrate to America, though the mystery of how he ended up in Cornwall is never revisited nor revealed. [He becomes sort of a blank character, a personality on whom we can impose our own curiosity and emotions... as compelling and original as this theme is, it's not enough to keep our attention, no matter how lovely the ladies in lavender are."