sirenebern "The Lady in the Van" is based on the true story of successful (though not socially successful) playwright and actor Alan Bennett, who reluctantly allows a very eccentric homeless woman (played with shrill comic delight by Maggie Smith) to park her decrepit, junk-filled yellow van in his driveway in an upscale suburb of London. She winds up staying there for years, and Bennett comes to care about her well-being more than he likes to admit. Through Bennett's witty, self-deprecating dialogue with the audience (fourth wall) as well as himself (he plays both himself and his alter ego, a more confident version of himself), the film reveals the gift of caring for someone selflessly, someone who is truly in need, who has been victimized -- and who isn't particularly grateful for the help. I watched "The Lady in the Van" at Christmas, and I think, though it is not a "holiday movie" per se, that it has a message that resonates at that time of the year. When you're worn out by the mall crowds and turned off by the crass commercialism, watch "The Lady in the Van" with a cup of hot, spiked tea. You will be moved and have a lot of laughs along the way, I promise. Excellent acting by both Alex Jennings as Bennett and Maggie Smith, as well as the many stars in supporting roles and cameos (most of the cast of Bennett's hit "The History Boys").

heatherm-714-239091 What a beautiful film. I can't understand how some reviewers have given it such low marks. You can almost smell Maggie Smith through the telly and the two Alan's are just perfect. As the story unfolds and more mysteries abound but are not revealed, the intrigue based around these two characters grows. "Hold my Hand... it's clean" sprung tears and made this film simply perfect.

Richard Harvey 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.

sandra small The Lady in the Van is, on the surface a showcase of sublime acting by Dame Maggie Smith, but the film is multilayered. Firstly, Alan Bennett plays with the notion of reality and fiction, between consciousness and the subconscious. He uses The Lady in the Van to question whether his years of writing, alone at his desk, has blurred reality and the unreality (the imagination). Then he projects that onto the reader, and audience. Now I get why Alan Bennet is a genius. Kudos also to the director. Nicolas Hynter for interpreting the essence of Bennet's brilliance. The narrative of the story also deals with mutable social issues, such as eccentricity, abuse of homeless people, and the idealistic social worker., corrupt police, and the hypocrisy of the liberal elite.That hypocrisy could be directed squarely at Bennett, who, as a wealthy man, could have easily bought a house for the lady who lived in a van. I feel she was fodder for his project and to that extent what are is skewed ethics here genius writer or not?If you like Bennett's style of writing, and Dame Maggie Smith's acting and the work of director Nicholas Hynter, then this film could be your cup of tea!