The Lady in the Van

Maggie Smith never disappoints. She is such an amazing actress and continues to be in "The Lady in the Van." Such an interesting true story of a very odd woman, this film is very endearing. The chemistry between Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings is very enjoyable to watch. Their relationship had a sort of codependency between them that was really fueled by a real caring for each other for different reasons. Director Nicholas Hytner did a great job of portraying the comedy found in this story. And that is due to the great acting of Maggie Smith, whom I cannot say enough about. Her recent Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture- Comedy was well deserved and although she didn't take home the trophy, her performance is still one to be heavily applauded.

"Lady in the Van" from 2015 is the "mostly" true story of playwright Alan Bennett's relationship with a woman who lived in various vans parked in his driveway for fifteen years. Bennett here is played by Alex Jennings, and the lady, Miss Shepherd, Maggie Smith.

Miss Shepherd, who smells awful from not bathing, lives in a crowded van and moves it from place to place, staying until she's thrown out or until she hears music. When she's told to move or do something else, she yells, as only Maggie Smith can do, "I'm a sick woman! Dying possibly!" Alan finds it impossible to break from her, though he tries. She prays very fervently and one time tells him that she spoke to the Virgin Mary at the post office. When he asks if the van is insured, she says she doesn't need it, she's insured in heaven. "So what happens if you have an accident?" Alan asks. "Who pays? The Pope?"

Alan is gay, though his friends are always trying to fix him up with a woman. One day Miss Shepherd says, "All those people who come and go in the dark, I know who they are." "Oh, Jesus," he says under his breath. "They're Communists!" she hisses. "Otherwise they wouldn't come and go in the dark."

Miss Shepherd is a woman of mystery - Alan finally learns that she studied piano, speaks fluent French, and was a nun. She also at times is seen going to someone's house in the dead of night. A man opens the door and comes outside. And someone stops by her van from time to time, and she gives him money.

In the end, we learn who these people are, her story of the convent, the history of her piano-playing, why she prays all the time, and who the men are.

Alex Jennings is perfect as Bennett (who appears at the end of the movie). He has his voice down pat, and in the film, there are two Alans - the writer Alan and the observer Alan, who talk with one another throughout the film. It's Alan who lives in the real world who encourages the writer Alan to be helpful to Miss Shepherd.

I am so privileged to have seen Maggie Smith in "Lettice and Lovage," one of my greatest evenings in the theater, where I laughed until I cried. At the end of that play, she gets on the phone and does a serious, touching monologue. She does the same here. Instead of the crazy homeless lady with the plastic bags we see and laugh at and wonder about during the play, she does a monologue that tells us who she is, and about her pain, heartbreak, and disappointments. "Why did you choose to be homeless?" Alan asks. "I didn't choose," she insists. "It was chosen for me."

A wonderful film about an uptight, cold man and a disturbed religious bag lady - you won't soon forget it.

The film begins with our protagonist Miss Shepherd (Smith) driving through the English countryside hoping to avoid a policeman. There is blood splattered against her cracked windshield and a flustered look on Shepherd's face. We then meet our narrator Alan Bennett (Jennings) a playwright who has just moved to the quiet middle-class neighborhood of Camden. He is of two minds; one who writes fastidiously while the other takes care of the daily functions of his life. The doppelgangers argue about the trajectory of his work, both deciding he lacks the excitement of Hemingway and the complexities of Proust. Then Miss Shepherd moves into the neighborhood, setting her dilapidated van along the street to the horror of Camden's well-to-do residents.

Dame Maggie Smith has had a long and illustrious career to be sure. A consistently tremendous force on the stage and screen, Smith has been in show-business since the 1950's and not once has she faltered with an abysmal performance. The Lady in the Van is certainly no exception. She takes on the role she first popularized on the stage play with gusto relishing in the tiniest little moments that breathe life into Shepherd. So popular was her portrayal on stage that she was nominated for Best Actress at the Olivier Awards and this year she was similarly nominated for a Golden Globe.

Alas The Lady in the Van is not simply about Shepherd and her cantankerous run-ins with neighbors, social workers and Alan. Alan's struggle to come to terms with his sickly mother, his circumspect sexuality and his writing, at one point putting on a monologue on London's West End which goes badly. Alex Jennings tries hard to make his duel role stick but his periodic subplots feel airy, lack conflict and pad time in between Smith's charming homeless-woman stunts and his own droll voice-over narration. He's not a real character or at least one we really care about. He's simply the vessel in which the story carries itself while Smith is the showcase.

While it's easy to see how this film's source material is stage- driven, director Nicholas Hytner does a fine job elevating the story in a more cinematic way. He used his eye to similar aplomb in The Madness of King George (1994) which delved into similar themes albeit in a much grander way. We get a picturesque view of springtime Camden with all the trappings of upper-middle class opulence. In such an environment, Shepherds garish van sticks out like a sore thumb jabbing at the neighbors sensibilities. Despite the main conflict surrounding what the neighborhood should to with their local reprobate, none of them are treated as outright monsters. The film takes place within a 15-year time span thus what eventually becomes a nuisance morphs into a local mainstay.

There's one piece of The Lady in the Van puzzle that must be addressed and that is the outstanding score by five time Oscar nominee George Fenton. His original music is grand and bittersweet which perfectly matches the emotional core of the film. He borrows some insightful leitmotifs from Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky while also presenting some specific pieces by Schubert and Chopin. One particular piece; an impromptu by Schubert does such a good job portraying the sadness and sense of guilt of Miss Shepherd, that it ranks up there with the Chopin ballad scene in The Pianist (2002) as best example of classical music translating character emotion.

Yet in spite of some stellar music, one showstopping performance on the part of Maggie Smith and a kindly message about transience, The Lady in the Van can't help but feel almost too sweet. It's a movie that will put a warm smile on your face and keep it there but it won't stick with you long after you've left the theater. That's not altogether a bad thing though; if you're craving for some wholesome entertainment sure to warm your heart, The Lady in the Van is certainly worth your time.

When you see vagrants sleeping rough in doorways it is grimly fascinating to wonder how they got there. Was it a gradual descent due to drink or drugs? Or was it an 'explosive decompression' – an event so dramatic it capsized an otherwise stable existence? In a gripping pre-title sequence, it is the latter that sets up the back-story for Miss Shepherd – the titular "Lady in the Van" played by the marvelous Dame Maggie Smith.

Based on a "mostly true" story, Miss Shepherd lives in an old Bedford van progressing from unwelcome parking space to unwelcome parking space in the well-to-do Gloucester Crescent in Camden (a street that strangely the Google Streetview car has never ventured down!).

This introduces us to a selection of the local residents, including – bizarrely – the wife of composer Ralph Vaughan-Williams (Frances de la Tour). The wily Miss Shepherd can however spot a soft touch from miles away and latches onto the newest resident, famous playwright Alan Bennett played (in multiple concurrent forms) by Alex Jennings (doing a fine impersonation). When yellow-lines necessitate action, Miss Shepherd wheedles her van onto his driveway for "three months": three months that turns into 15 years.

I was in two minds from the trailer as to whether I wanted to see this film or not, and I'm so pleased that I did. What stands out, and what makes it so enjoyable, is the whip-smart and intelligent script by Bennett, based on his memoirs. The use of two Bennetts – one 'doing the writing' and one 'doing the living' – could be considered contrived, but allows the frustrations and inner demons (concerning his ailing mother 'up north') to be given a witty and articulate voice.

Despite getting progressively typecast as a vaguely batty old woman, Dame Maggie excels as the troubled Miss Shepherd – it is difficult to imagine many other actresses being able to pull off this larger than life role any better. When pathos is required (e.g. "Why did you choose to live like this?"; "I didn't choose… I was chosen") she delivers it in heart breaking fashion. But her more comic pronouncements, such as the one about the number of "young men" visiting Bennett's house at "every hour of the day and night" obviously being "communists", were hilarious. What appears on the surface to be a mildly humorous movie turned out to have some serious belly-laughs.

Less successful in the film is the normally excellent Jim Broadbent, playing a retired copper with an unhealthy interest in the old lady. While this may have been a true part of the story, it really didn't come across very satisfactorily, and the scenes seem brash and out of kilter with the mood of the rest of the film.

A selection of cameos in the film include Dominic Cooper ("Captain America", "Mamma Mia") and (proving how long this film has been in the can) the now US celebrity presenter James Corden.

The slightly surreal ending of the film, set in a graveyard, might not be to everyone's taste, but I personally enjoyed it and it added to the kookiness of what turned out to be a pretty kooky film.

The film is directed by Nicholas Hytner. Although having a few notable movies to his credit ("The Madness of King George", "The History Boys"), he is better known as a regular director for National Theatre productions in London, and the film does have something of a 'stagy' feel about it. But as an example of a quintessential British film, based on a 'true' subject that seems barely credible, it makes for a heart-warming and highly entertaining trip to the movies. And in this week of the dreadful events in Paris, we could all do with that. Recommended.

(Please visit bob-the-movie-man.com for the graphical version of this review. Thanks).

Greetings again from the darkness. "There's air freshener behind the Virgin". That line should provide the necessary caution for you to be braced for just about anything to be said by any character in this latest from director Nicholas Hytner. Billed as "A mostly true story", it's actually more commentary on how we treat those less fortunate and how we use others for our own gain. That bleak message is cloaked here in humor and a wonderful performance from Dame Maggie Smith.

Alan Bennett is an author, playwright and screenwriter known for The History Boys and The Madness of King George (Oscar nominated for his script). He is also at the core of this story – every bit as much as Ms. Shepherd, the lady in the van. While living in upper crust Camden Town, Mr. Bennett offered to let Ms. Shepherd park her van in his driveway for a few weeks until she could make other arrangements. This van was also her home, and the years (as they are apt to do) came and went until this arrangement had lasted 15 years (1974-1989).

You might assume that Ms. Shepherd was an extremely appreciative "squatter", but in fact, she was quite a cantankerous and difficult woman, possibly/probably suffering from mental instability. Maggie Smith brings a humanity to the role that she had previously owned onstage and radio. She goes far deeper than the wise-cracking old lady role we have grown accustomed to seeing her play … though her vicious dialogue delivery remains in prime form. Throughout the film, we assemble bits and pieces of Ms. Shepherd's background: an educated-French speaking musician-turned nun-former ambulance driver-who "possibly" won awards for her talents. She is also carrying a burden of guilt from a past tragic accident that keeps her in the confessional on a consistent basis.

Mr. Bennett is played by Alex Jennings (The Queen, 2006), and the film actually presents dual Bennetts – the one doing the writing, and the one doing the living. These two Bennetts are a virtual married couple – arguing over Ms. Shepherd, and jabbing each other with barbs aimed directly at known emotional weaknesses. The living Bennett claims to be so full of British timidity that he couldn't possibly confront the woman junking up his driveway. The writer Bennett takes the high road and claims he would rather write spy stories than focus his pen on the odorous, obnoxious transient living in his front yard. Of course, now that we have a play and movie, it's difficult to avoid viewing Mr. Bennett's actions as anything less than inspiration for his writing … though the extended charitable actions cannot be minimized.

With director Hytner and writer Bennett reuniting, it's also interesting to note that more than a dozen actors from The History Boys make appearances here. The list includes James Corden, Frances de la Tour, and Dominic Cooper. Also in supporting roles are Roger Allam and Deborah Findlay (playing constantly irritated neighbors), Gwen Taylor as Bennett's dementia-stricken mother, Jim Broadbent as a blackmailing former cop, and Marion Bailey as a staffer at the abbey.

Filmed at the same house where the van was parked for so many years, the film is a reminder to us to exercise tolerance and charity in dealing with the poor. Even Bennett's grudgingly-offered assistance is a step above what would typically be expected. While we could feel a wide spectrum of emotions for the two main parties here, it's Ms. Shepherd's character who says "I didn't choose. I was chosen". We are left to interpret her words in a way that is either quite sad or accepting.

The film mostly avoids dime store sentimentality, and that's in large part due to Maggie Smith's performance. Few are as effective at frightening young kids or putting the elite in their place. The ending scene shows the real Alan Bennett cruising into the driveway on his bicycle just as the blue plaque honoring the lady in the van is displayed. We can be certain this gesture would not generate a "thank you" from her.