POINTS: 5
“Mary, as you call her, is a bigoted, blinkered, cantankerous, devious, unforgiving, self-serving, rank, rude, car-mad cow”, says British playwright Alan Bennett (Alex Jennings) about Mary, a.k.a. Margaret Shepherd, an oddball homeless old woman whom Bennet became friends with in the 1970’s prior to letting her temporarily park her Bedford yellow van in his Camden home driveway. She ended up staying there for 15 years.
Described by Bennet as “mostly true”, her singular tale was adapted from his memoir into The Lady in the Van, a play starring Maggie Smith back in 1999. Such a play has now become a film of the same name directed by Nicholas Hytner (The Madness of King George, The History Boys) with, of course, Maggie Smith playing the lead.
Among other things, Miss Sheperd is a very well educated woman; she was a talented pupil of a famed pianist (she even played Chopin at a concert), drove an ambulance during the blackout, was a non-conformist novice who never became a nun, became an intern committed to a mental asylum by her next of kin, and was also an unfortunate party in a car accident that marked her for life. There’s much more to the life of this unusual character, but should you see The Lady in the Van, then you’ll find out all about her. The question is whether the film is actually as gripping as its title character. I’m afraid it’s not. Which is not to say it’s a total mess.
For starters, you have Maggie Smith’s finely calibrated performance. We all know this actress does wonders practically under all circumstances. She’s the only merit of the lame My Old Lady, the weak Keeping Mum, or the lousy Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood — among other flops. As for the other features she starred in, you have the outstanding Gosford Park, the affable Murder By Death, the likable Death on the Nile and Evil Under the Sun, the posh A Room With a View, some engaging outings in the Harry Potter series, the giddy Exotic Hotel Marigold, and needless to say, the successful TV series Downtown Abbey.
In The Lady in the Van, she gives Miss Sheperd some unexpected nuances, prevents her from becoming too likable for her own good, infuses her with a believable dose of suffering for her doings, and almost never goes overboard. She turns her into an aggressive and weak creature at once, a woman with a dark past, an uncertain present and no future at all.
However, it too often feels like she’s silently struggling against Bennet’s writing and Hytner’s coaching to render a more sugarcoated, less complex character. There’s seldom a streak of meanness or disdain in her, not a shadow of resentment or madness (the fact that she defecated in the driveway doesn’t necessarily equal ugliness since that is treated with convenient humour). And there’s an undercurrent of sadness and loss in Miss Shepherd’s otherwise perky nature that’s never quite fully explored. For that matter, Bennet and Hytner merely scratch the surface of many of the themes they address. Hence, great dramatic potential is sadly buried.
Then there’s the sentimental, corny edge that invades the film from time to time in a very blunt manner. As when she is with her wheelchair at full speed, arms open to the wind, Bennet running after her, and both of them laughing as they celebrate life — or something like that. Or the insufferable, ever present musical score punctuating meaningful moments. And the trick of having Bennet divided into two selves, the writer and the man, seen in the same room talking about art and life is less than original and unnecessarily contrived.
By the way, their dialogue is meant to be inspired, with lines such as: “I learned there is no such thing as marking time, and that time marks you”, and let’s be frank, that’s not inspired at all. It’s just hollow. On the other hand, there are times when the dialogue is not meant to be enlightening and so it’s actually effective and credible: “Alan Bennett: ‘I bought you these.’ Miss Shepherd: ‘Flowers? What do I want with flowers? They... They only die. I’ve got enough on my plate without flowers.’”
To some viewers, The Lady in the Van will do the trick for it’s safe and sound and makes the most, even with its mistakes, of Maggie Smith’s performance. To more discerning viewers, it just won’t for it’s far from being the real thing. And it shows.
production notes
The Lady in the Van (UK, 2015) Directed by Nicholas Hytner. Written by Alan Bennett. With Maggie Smith, Alex Jennings, Jim Broadbent, Frances De La Tour, Roger Allam, Deborah Findlay. Production: BBC Films, TriStar Productions. Director of photography: Andrew Dunn. Production designer: John Beard.Editor: Tariq Anwar. Costume designer: Natalie Ward. Composer: George Fenton. Running time: 103 minutes.
