* * *
THE LADY IN THE VAN
Directed by Nicholas Hytner, with Maggie Smith, Alex Jennings, Jim Broadbent, Frances De La Tour, Roger Allam and Deborah Findlay
REVIEW: Frank Scheck
WE’RE informed at the beginning of Nicholas Hytner’s screen adaptation of Alan Bennett’s 1999 play that it’s “a mostly true story”. Figuring out what is true and what isn’t is one of the pleasures of The Lady in the Van, but the foremost one is watching Maggie Smith gloriously reprising her acclaimed stage performance.
The veteran actress should be garnering plenty of attention at awards time for this film, which is being released by Sony Pictures Classics. The story, which begins in 1970, concerns Miss Shepherd (Smith), a dotty, homeless old woman who lived in a broken-down yellow van parked in the playwright’s driveway at his North London home for 15 years. Indulging her presence out of some combination of charity, morbid fascination and passivity, Bennett also couldn’t help but see the dramatic and comedic potential of the situation.
The uncomfortable relationship between life and art is a principal theme of the film, one that is dramatised by the presence of two Bennetts, both expertly played by Alex Jennings. One of them participates in the action while the other observes and sardonically comments on it.
“I live, you write, that’s how it works,” one Bennett says to the other.
It’s a device that worked better on stage than on film, despite the cinematic advantage of being able to have one actor in both roles. Although the exchanges between the two versions of the character provide the film with some of its sharpest moments, they inevitably exude a stagey artificiality that proves distracting.
But it’s Smith’s eccentric oldster who is the film’s driving force, and the 80-year-old actress doesn’t disappoint. Not surprisingly, she fully exploits the humour in her character’s bizarreness, reaping much comic mileage from her proclamation that she receives guidance from the Virgin Mary; her utter obliviousness to her lack of personal hygiene; her hatred of music that sends her fleeing whenever she hears a note; and her ragtag wardrobe.
Smith also subtly conveys the emotional pain and desperation of the addled old woman, especially in the scenes in which she’s taken away by social services and gently treated to a thorough washing, feeding and medical examination. The character’s backstory is ultimately revealed in an encounter between Bennett and her older brother that movingly illustrates how anyone’s life can change if afflicted with mental illness.
The supporting players include a number of British stage actors including Frances de la Tour and Roger Allam, as well as James Corden in a cameo.
This marks the third collaboration between the scripter and directors. The results are as assured as you might expect, with further verisimilitude provided by shooting the film inside the actual house in which the real events took place. – Reuters/ Hollywood Reporter