The Lady in the Van (2015) (English Language)

Review

104min

Genre:      Fact-based, Comedy, Drama

Director:   Nicholas Hytner

Cast:        Maggie Smith, Alex Jennings, Jim Broadbent…and more

Writer:     Alan Bennett

-Synopsis-

British film adaptation of the autobiographical play by Alan Bennett, starring Maggie Smith as an eccentric and ornery transient elderly lady who lived in a battered van on his driveway and with whom he develops an unlikely bond.

The greatest of great British acting dames Maggie Smith stars as the titular van-lady in question, one Miss Shepherd. A tortured Catholic who lived in squalor in a van that pulled-up in playwright Alan Bennett’s north London neighbourhood one day, and ended up staying for 15 years. Thanks to the “understanding” of the locals and in no small part to British middle-class reserve and guilt.

The film is faithful to actual events and Bennett’s original play… and is mostly true, as the opening makes clear. It was in fact filmed in the house on Gloucester Crescent where the story originally took place.

‘The Lady in the Van’ has all the charm and wit you might expect from an Alan Bennett narrative, with plenty of room for dry humour and pathos but little for sentimentality and sweetness. His relationship with Miss Shepherd was not your typical friendship and his act of kindness, by his own admission, was as much a self-serving act of appeasement as it was charitable.

Alex Jennings’ performance as Bennett is dead-on if a bit passive, we get a glimpse of his own inner demons regarding his sexuality and relationship with his mother, which reflects the bond with Miss Shepherd, and we’re even treated to his amusingly depicted dual personality and subsequent inner dialogue.

But the star of the show is clearly Dame Maggie Smith, with a performance so accomplished it manages to engender fondness for a woman who was as cantankerous and short-tempered as she was presumptuous and ungrateful. But as the story of her tragic and numerous life experiences unfolds, you can’t help but feel some sympathy and empathy.

‘The Lady in the Van’ is not however an entirely polished little British gem, despite Maggie Smith’s efforts it’s hard to empathize with and relate to Miss Shepherd, there is a missing emotional gravitas and it only ever gets skin deep into her personality and feelings about what life dealt her, but then again she never let anyone get that close.

The Bottom Line…

Despite a slightly faltering narrative that fails to illuminate a fascinating psyche, ‘The Lady in the Van’ is a well-crafted unsentimental but touching comedy/drama with more than enough wit and acerbic charm to hold your attention throughout, and is brilliantly anchored by a faultless performance from the great dame of British cinema.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Philomena (2013)

True story of the unlikely relationship between a jaded journalist and an elderly Irish woman who embark on an international search for the son she lost when he was forcibly removed and put up for adoption by the Catholic church.

Directed by Stephen Frears and starring Judi Dench, Steve Coogan and Michelle Fairley among others.

Comments

comments

Comments are closed.