THE LADY IN THE VAN
THE LADY IN THE VAN
Playwright Alan Bennett, fresh from his West End debut, buys a house in one of London’s most exclusive streets, where he encounters the eccentric old lady Mary Shepherd, a woman living in a van, who is constantly moved from place to place. The story is based mainly on real events.
Set in London in the early 1970s, the story follows Alan Bennett (Alex Jennings), whose play has just opened on the West End, as he moves into a Victorian house on Gloucester Crescent - not only one of the trendiest streets in all of England, but also largely inhabited by the crème de la crème of British artists. Imagine his surprise when he meets Mary Shepherd (Maggie Smith), an eccentric, indomitable old woman with no fixed address, living in a dilapidated van.
Not wishing to clash with the local authorities, or the police, Mary repeatedly moves her van from one spot to another, until one day she drives it onto Alan’s driveway. Although she promises to move it again in three months, she ends up staying there for over fifteen years.
Before Nicholas Hytner brought the story to the big screen in 2015 with THE LADY IN THE VAN, Bennett had explored the peculiar situation in an essay, which he subsequently adapted into a book, a stage play, and a radio drama, with Smith taking the lead in both adaptations. The cinematic version, therefore, was inevitable.
The result is a film about an unusual couple, strangers who become dependent on each other, and their relationship - initially harsh and distant - transforms into something resembling friendship.
Text: Rafał Glapiak
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