The Lady in the Van (2015)

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Lady in the Van (2015) tells the true story of Alan Bennett's (Alex Jennings) uneasy friendship with an homeless elderly woman (Maggie Smith) who stayed in his driveway in a series of vans for 15 years. Over the course of those years he learns about the series of events that caused Mary Shepard to become homeless. Despite the possible grim subject matter of being homeless and suffering from the mental stress that comes from being homeless and guilt from past mistakes, the film maintains a fairly light-heated tone that makes the some of the bleaker aspects have more of an impact as well as make it more digestible. The trouble with these types of movies is that there is very little I can say about it that is not spoiling a joke or a major plot development. However what I can talk about is the performances.Maggie Smith is amazing, flat out amazing. She captures every scene she is in, whether it is insulting Alan Bennett or anyone around her or showing how badly old age decays her physical and mental health, the film also displays how a series of events led her into the terrible state she is in at the time of the film. Alex Jennings is great too, in fact everyone is great in this, and they deliver their lines with perfect comedic timing and grace that always ends in laughs. The writing for the first and second act oozes wit and charm, none of it feels forced for comedic effect or heavy handed. It keeps the pace flowing smoothly and is after all the film's most valuable assist. However this sadly becomes badly apparent in the third act.I will not give away any spoilers but it tries to introduce a Meta narrative that works as well into the pace and previous type of narrative as one running a hand over a cactus does to ease pain. It hurts the film and reduces what could have been a overall pleasant and haunting movie into a silly feature that thinks it is cleverer then it is.I did enjoy the film and I would watch it again. It is just a shame that the final act decides it wants to change the narrative in that the film had not earned or needed.

Unusually, the user reviews here are, almost all, well-considered, and there is little useful to add. Music, cinematography, editing, lighting all support the consistent high standard of acting and direction. The themes - compassion, loneliness, manipulation, love, old age and so on - are teased out in careful Bennett fashion. We are engaged and entranced by a film that does not disappoint, yet does not seek to promise more than it can deliver. I saw Maggie Smith play a youthful Desdemona to Laurence Olivier's Othello, and this, at the other extent of her acting life, is as riveting performance as I can remember.

Sails a little close to sentimentality at times but perhaps that forgivable, a sweet story about a not so sweet lady. A great and largely true tale, Maggie Smith is magnificent and Alex Jennings very good. A special mention for Frances De La Tour and the score, both great. Why my reservations? Well not much happens which is fine, but this in turn, turns your attention to the characters and that's where TLIV misses the mark. I think the decision to cast Jennings as two Allan Benetts was a theatrical contrivance that doesn't gel cinematically. A voice over would have worked far better and elevated this good movie to great. So watch and enjoy but mark this down as a missed opportunity.

I'm going to keep this brief as I don't want to add any spoilers. If you watch the trailer you will generally get the story quite quickly but it drags out a bit for 1 hour and 40 minutes. The acting is good but I wasn't impressed with the amount of swearing in it. For parents to take young children in (which I didn't but saw others) and then to have have "F" swear words mentioned in a 12a is pretty poor. I wouldn't recommend this for children and should be aimed at the 15 certification. I think there are times when our children are being desensitised to real events when they pick up words, actions and poor behaviour based on a movie. I know the BBFC has given it a 12a and left the decision to parents but from my experience a lot of parents are so naive about these things and then wonder why their child ends up swearing when they've just taken them to a movie full of it.