Movie Review: 'The Lady in the Van'
By Bill Wine
KYW Newsradio
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - A British writer forms an unexpected bond with a homeless woman who has decided to live in her car, a dilapidated van that she has parked in the driveway of his upscale London neighborhood without getting anyone's permission.
And that's where she stays for fifteen years.
That's the gist of The Lady in the Van, a comedy adaptation of the play of the same name by Alan Bennett, based on a "mostly true story," that has the distinction of starring force-of-nature Maggie Smith, who has six Oscar nominations and two Oscars in her background (Best Actress for 1969's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and Best Supporting Actress for 1978's California Suite) and who starred in the original stage version in England in 1999 and has of late gotten a great deal of attention for her singular contribution to television's Downton Abbey.
Smith plays glorified bag lady Miss Mary Shepherd, the eccentric, elderly woman who in 1970 takes up driveway residence for a decade-and-a-half and who remains ungrateful, demanding, cantankerous, self-absorbed, and smelly the whole neighbor-perplexing time.
As we watch her strained interaction with the nearby folks, never deigning to thank anyone she sees on a daily basis for any of the many gifts she receives over the years, we find out gradually about her past; that, for example, she's a former concert pianist, that she's haunted by a tragic accident in her past, that she sees a local priest on a regular basis seeking some kind of absolution, and that there is apparently a blackmailer in her life.
Writer Bennett puts himself in the play as well, splitting himself into two characters, the man and the writer, and having the two versions of him – the "one who lives" and the "one who writes" -- discuss and debate just about everything, with both Bennetts portrayed by Alex Jennings in a smartly differentiated dual role.
But writer Bennett overplays his hand with this device, and the result is to offer us a bit too much about Bennett and not quite enough about the title character.
Director Nicholas Hytner (The History Boys, The Crucible, The Madness of King George, The Object of My Affection, Center Stage), shooting at the location where the actual events took place, works from Bennett's adaptation of his own play, already performed for radio.
Smith plays her with her usual poker-faced demeanor and crackerjack comic timing, but she sometimes seems more of a metaphorical device herself than a full-blooded character.
The dialogue is unsentimental and sometimes winningly whimsical, but we're aware that we're watching a piece that might have played more appropriately and more effectively on stage.
Still, it offers a chance to see a consummate comedic actress do her thing.
So we'll refuse to leave 2½ stars out of 4 for a real-life comic memoir. For viewers with an appreciation of the estimable and idiosyncratic performing gifts of the incomparable Maggie Smith, the modestly accomplished The Lady in the Van is parked right in your driveway.
