Sony Pictures Classics
The first time I saw Maggie Smith in a movie was probably Hook, but I think Sister Act was close to that too. Those roles were classic “Maggie Smith,” showing off little depths in what was at the time more character actor work from her. This was in the period after all of her award winning work that lasted until the 70s and then, despite continuing to work steadily, she stopped getting that “award” recognition. She wouldn’t get recognition from modern audiences until later with Gosford Park in 2001, and now everyone just knows her from the Harry Potter movies.
But really, she’s always been good.
The Lady in the Van is based on real life stories from British writer Alan Bennett (played here by Alex Jennings) based on the stage play of the same name by Bennett, who also wrote the screenplay. In the 1970s, mildly successful playwright Alan Bennett moved to the slightly upscale London neighborhood of Camden Town, hoping to work on his writing. The movie does a clever thing with split screen, having two Alans talking to each other, one dedicated to “writing” and the other to “living.” The exchanges Alan has with himself are when the movie is the most clever, but the other bright spot is Maggie Smith, who plays the titular lady in the van, Mary Shepherd.
Mary is homeless and lives out of her van, moving around the block every so often as she can. As to be expected from a slightly batty and unwashed elderly lady hanging around in a van, Mary is often the target of derision and harassment from strangers. The movie then shows the full course of their relationship over 15 years, gradually aging up everyone.
At the same time Alan has a complicated and often difficult relationship with Mary, he also sees his widowed mother deteriorate over the years. And then there’s the matter of Mary’s mysterious past. There isn’t much of a plot other than that. It’s a lot of slowly showing new bits and pieces over the years, without a real sense of how much time has passed. The makeup was a bit too subtle; sometimes years will have passed between scenes and I wouldn’t realize it at first, making things a bit confusing.
This “lack of a plot” is actually fairly common for this sort of indie movie, so it’s not necessarily a knock on it. That said, I did find it more than a little repetitive and only alleviated with a rush of energy from the 81-year old Maggie Smith. I suppose that the other people in smaller roles are fine, and Alex Jennings as the playwright Bennett is quirky enough. The writing given him is better than most others, but far be it from me to assume that the screenwriter (Bennett himself, remember) wrote himself to be more interesting anything other than unconsciously.
Gwen Taylor as Alan’s “Mam” is also good here, lending some additional weight to the often underwritten scenes between her and Alan. Jim Broadbent shows as an odd man (naturally) but he’s given very little to do. There are also little bits and pieces, snippets of charm throughout the movie with a lot of scenes that didn’t really seem to add much. Once I found it it had originally been a stage play, I felt that it suffered in a few ways in the transition to screen.
The truth is that the mystery is not really developed with a lot of tension. Once we find out the truth, it’s not particularly illuminating, more like “oh, well, okay then.” This is hardly a bad movie, and it’s paced mostly alright. The shining bit here is Maggie Smith of course, a standout even in a year filled with great performances. I’m glad there are still fine roles she’s able to take even now, even if some of them are really relying on her capability to elevate the movie.
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