The Lady in the Van (2015)

Directed by

Nicholas Hytner

Genre

drama film, comedy film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 44m

Rated

PG-13

Rating

6.4 of 10 from 807 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

An elderly woman parks her van in a writer's driveway and stays for 15 years. The story follows their unlikely friendship and the writer's patient efforts to understand her.

gentlewryaffectionatequietly humorousreflectiveslightly eccentricwarmunderstated

What happens

The Lady in the Van is a 2015 British comedy-drama film directed by Nicholas Hytner, and starring Maggie Smith and Alex Jennings, based on his earlier memoir and stage play of the same name, created by Alan Bennett. It was written by Bennett, and it tells the (mostly) true story of his interactions with Mary Shepherd, an elderly woman who lived in a dilapidated van on his driveway in north London for 15 years. He had previously published the story as a 1989 essay, 1990 book, 1999 stage play, and 2009 radio play on BBC Radio 4. Smith had previously portrayed Shepherd twice: in the 1999 stage play, which earned her a Best Actress nomination at the 2000 Olivier Awards, and in the 2009 radio adaptation. Hytner directed the 1999 stage play at the Queen's Theatre in London's West End. The film was shown in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and received largely positive reviews from critics. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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