The Lady in the Van (2015)

"The Lady in the Van"

I added this movie to my watch-list months ago, as soon as I saw the premise and Maggie's name in it's description. Just watched it. And it's EXACTLY what I expected it to be. :)

The plot: (without spoilers)

It's a poignant portrayal of a homeless woman who finds shelter when a lonely writer out of his timidness (don't confuse it with politeness, although being England, timid is good, too) lets her park her van in his driveway. Their bond, which was supposed to end within a few months, lasts almost 15 years.

The review: (without spoilers)

From the starting, you'll be hooked to the character of Maggie Smith, thanks to her glorious acting and the delightful character, Mary/Margaret/Miss Sheperd, she brings life to. Alex Jennings, who plays Alan, the man who lets her stay in her driveway, is quite a delightful actor himself. I don't think I've seen him in any other flicks. Yet.

Regardless to say, the acting is superb. The plot is adorable and heartbreaking, both at the same time. It's a perfect little drama movie with loads of charming humor, mainly delivered by Maggie. Yes, it gets a bit, as the other reviewers have put it, "dull" in the second half, but I think it's perfectly fine, because going in halfway, I expected nothing else. By the time it ended, there was a sense of contentedness in my heart. Also, it had stopped raining, not that THAT matters! :P

In short, this movie is a perfect, "bundle of joy".

I give it: 7.5/10

Also, I have noticed most of the British flicks go unnoticed, here on IMDb. I really wonder why. I have been tracking this one here for months and still it has only 10K or so votes and a lower rating than it deserves. Anyway, I hope this review will attract more viewers? I don't know, but one CAN hope.

That's it for now folks! :)

Fmovies: The most notable features of Alan Bennett's writing are his honesty and wry, gentle humour. Despite some plot embellishments the authenticity of his ambivalence towards his mother and Miss Shepherd and the mixture of guilt, exasperation and pity which governed his relationships with these very different women, is beautifully conveyed. Maggie Smith's brilliance lies in her ability to suggest the mental illness which destroyed Margaret/Mary's life and still clouds her mind combined with her shrewd determination to survive while retaining some shreds of dignity and independence. She senses Alan's inability to turn her away and he, in turn, seems to recognise a sensitive, traumatised soul in the stinking, obstinate vagrant. Alex Jennings captures the essence of Alan Bennett, his fastidiousness, his high moral standards and his relentless pursuit of truth in his writing. The superb script and talented cast give a vivid portrayal of this period of the writer's life and the charm of his Camden neighborhood.

Based on a 1970s biographical drama of the same name by noted British playwright Alan Bennett, The Lady in the Van is a "mostly true story" as mentioned at the beginning of the film. That's because Bennett had to put up with an old homeless woman for 15 years by allowing her to live in her van in his driveway. Then in 1999, Bennett cast Maggie Smith as the titular hobo in his own play. Ironically, Smith plays the same character on screen little over 15 years later.

Smith plays Mary Shepherd, an old woman literally living out of her van. She moves from house to house looking for parking space and is mostly a grumpy old woman who doesn't take kindly to anyone. She is extremely unhygienic and doesn't seem to care either. She is also a bully, and a tough one for her age. But there's something about Mary (no, that's a different film) that is equally poignant. She knows this and uses it to get almost everything she wants, including couple more vans! Meanwhile, Bennett, although always reluctant to Mary's emotional extortion, finds it humane to accommodate her. He is often seen talking to himself when there are two of him in the same frame. One is Bennett in the film and the other is Bennett the playwright scripting this story. This double imagery is also used as an allegory to illustrate his internal conflicts. One of which is the involuntary fondness he finds for Mary when he should be taking care of his aged mother living elsewhere. But after moving into his driveway, Bennett slowly learns that Mary is not the person he and everyone else think she is.

It's a bit of a mystery for us too until we learn Mary's background, her real name, and why she's so bitter yet fragile at the same time. While all this plays out slowly, albeit with typical British humour, the film is only enjoyable because of Maggie Smith. Her shrill voice, her piercing eyes, frail one moment, then boisterous the next, Smith is simply exceptional at her age. At certain points through the film you just want to reach out and hug her. She is that effective.

It's not the biggest dramedy of the year and not even the funniest, but The Lady in the Van is bound to please just about anyone. And like the titular character, it's a film hard to love, but once you do, it's equally hard to resist.

The Lady in the Van fmovies. A very entertaining, and occasionally touching, film written by Alan Bennett, a British National Treasure - though I'm sure he must be irritated, if not sickened, by being so described. His unique voice is instantly recognisable: self-knowing, self-mocking, never ever self-regarding. In spite of a string of stage and screen successes, he is essentially a man of letters: there is a literary quality about his work, and a good deal of his humour emerges from the contrast between the elegance of his sentences and the earthy, realistic observations they contain.

Bennett adapted his memoir about Miss Shepherd, whose residence is the eponymous vehicle (one of a series of vehicles, as it turns out) that occupies his driveway for fifteen years, for the stage, which brought director Nicholas Hytner and actors Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings on to the project. All three return for this film version, and an excellent job they make of it.

Bennett slyly juggles a number of subplots without you ever really being aware that is what they are. When they are finally identified and tied up in a package, it feels a little too neat and tidy after all that sprawl - an interesting comparison is Charlie Kaufmann's bleaker vision of a writer's struggle with a piece of work, Synechdoche New York - but Bennett's droll dialogue, and his clear-sightedness over the way compassion intertwines with guilt, compensates for the sense of well-made screenplay that dominates the closing section of the film.

Highly recommended.

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 Â… 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 &qu

The best thing Maggie Smith did for The Lady in the Van was not giving a brilliant acting performance, but agreeing to reprise her stage role as The Lady. Without that, this movie would not have been made.

This is a near-perfect "small" movie, but unlike many such films, this one is neither slow nor boring. The film begins with the sounds of a terrible car crash, and within ten minutes, we have several mysteries to chew on: Who is "the lady" really; why can't she tolerate listening to music; what happened in that car crash? These mysteries keep us engaged while playwright Alan Bennett tells us a story that at its core is more about the relationship between Bennett - or rather Bennett's two selves, the one who writes and the one who lives life - and the lady living in his driveway.

In choosing to portray himself as two characters – also a feature of his play – Bennett has chosen a device that could have been a disaster but in the rendering comes off brilliantly, especially near the end of this highly engaging film. I don't want to give anything away about that, so just watch it for yourself and enjoy.