Rating: A
When Lady in the Van opened with Maggie Smith driving a van in the ‘70s in England, I was clawing at my seat with the claggy white smugness of it. It seems like every year Maggie Smith does a twee, baby-boomer-bait comedy piece to drag a group of people to the cinema who will only pay to see her and/or Judi Dench on screen. While I had resigned myself to a bit of a fluff-piece, it turns out I was wrong and the boomers were right.
The opening scene consists of Smith dodging the police after committing a hit-and-run, then the screen goes dark, and Smith reappears in the future as a homeless woman living in her van with the windscreen still shattered from the accident.
The film is based on a true story by Alan Bennett, who begrudgingly allowed “the lady in the van” to park her vehicle in his driveway for 15 years. He slowly grows fond of her despite the intrusion on his personal space, and the turds he occasionally steps on in his driveway. Maggie Smith perfected her role in two stage productions of the play prior to the film, and because of this, she manages to be charming through a barrage of rudeness, delusion, and stench. She is the star, outshining Alex Jennings’ portrayal of Bennett.
Alan has an imaginary doppelganger in his living room who is his writer-self, with his presence highlighting the split personality of writers. While Alan has to live his life, do menial chores, and get along with people, he resents his writer self who occupies his alterior motive – to ask the tasteless questions and nose into people’s lives. The writer tells the meek Alan that his life is too boring, the boring Alan tells the writer he is a creep.
The film is essentially about everyday guilt and tolerance. Alan harbours a homeless woman against his will, while his own mother is in a nursing home. I gave the film an A and not an A+ because I didn’t like the ending, or the way a storyline seemed confined by essentially a portrait of two characters. Otherwise, I found the film funny, insightful, and sad without being cheesy. Overall, I would highly recommend it.