THE LADY IN THE VAN (2015, UK, 104m, 12) ***½
Biography, Drama
dist. Sony Pictures Releasing; pr co. BBC Films / TriStar Productions / Dream Cars; d. Nicholas Hytner; w. Alan Bennett (based on the memoir by Alan Bennett); pr. Nicholas Hytner, Damian Jones, Kevin Loader; ph. Andrew Dunn (Colour | 1.85:1); m. George Fenton; ed. Tariq Anwar; pd. John Beard; ad. Tim Blake.
cast: Maggie Smith (Miss Shepherd), Alex Jennings (Alan Bennett), Jim Broadbent (Underwood), Frances de la Tour (Mrs Vaughan Williams), Roger Allam (Rufus), Deborah Findlay (Pauline), Gwen Taylor (Mam), David Calder (Leo Fairchild), Clare Hammond (Young Margaret Fairchild), Claire Foy (Lois, Social Worker), Cecilia Noble (Miss Briscoe, Social Worker), Nicholas Burns (Giles Perry), Pandora Colin (Fiona Perry), Clive Merrison (Man in Confessional), Richard Griffiths (Sam Perry), James Corden (Market Trader), Dermot Crowley (Priest), Sacha Dhawan (Doctor at Gloucester Crescent), Selina Cadell (Lady Wiggin), Alan Bennett (Alan Bennett (2014)).
A slight, but interesting and amusingly wry biographical comedy. In 1973 London, playwright Alan Bennett (Jennings) develops an unlikely friendship with Miss Shepherd (Smith), a homeless woman who lives in a van in his driveway for the next 15 years. Smith delivers a tour-de-force and totally believable central performance as the eccentric van dweller. The film’s themes of guilt, class divide, the treatment of the homeless and contradictions within the Catholic church are explored with wit and intelligence by Bennett. Bennett peppers his screenplay with wry observations on life and ultimately the ageing process, contrasting the latter days of Smith’s van life with those of his own mother in a care home. He splits his own character into two – one who experiences life and one who uses occasional artistic freedom to write about it. This serves as a mechanism for Bennett to deliver his musings. Only Broadbent’s role, as a vindictive ex-policeman, strikes a false note. Hytner’s direction is unobtrusive, allowing room for his actors to perform and the script to breathe.
