Maggie Smith, the British actress who portrays a prim and proper aristocrat in the popular series, Downton Abbey, transforms herself into a homeless person in The Lady in the Van, which opens in Canada on February 5.
It’s quite an astonishing makeover. As Margaret Shepherd, a woman whose current circumstance are jarringly at odds with her past, Smith projects pluck and strength of character.
Adapted from Alan Bennett’s play, which itself is based on real events, The Lady in the Van is an empathetic drama leavened by bursts of comedy and a dose of magic realism. It unfolds over a 19-year period in London’s Camden Town district during which Shepherd shrewdly insinuates herself into Bennett’s life.
A fairly successful playwright, he lives in a spacious, book-lined townhouse. Like his neighbors, he’s familiar with Shepherd, an eccentric who roams the streets and lives in a battered van. “I’m looking for a last nesting place,” she announces. Later, in a bid to gain sympathy from strangers, she says,”I’m a sick woman, dying possibly.”
Shepherd is a lost and forlorn soul, coping with the spiritual malaise of homelessness and decrepitude, but she has an interesting personal history, which is revealed by various means.
In truth, Shepherd is not completely alone. The home owners on the street keep a benevolent eye on her and provide her with food, though they’re none too pleased that she’s decamped in their sedate neighborhood. A social worker visits occasionally. But the person who probably knows her best is Bennett, a man who lives vicariously through the written word. He allows Shepherd to use his bathroom, knowing full well he’ll have to clean up after her.
When a city inspector orders Shepherd to remove her van from the road, she’s at a loss. And when Bennett suggests she should seek out permanent housing, she exclaims, “I didn’t choose to live like this. I was chosen.”
Out of the kindness of his heart, Bennett allows Shepherd to park her van in his driveway for the next few months. “Just till you sort yourself out,” he says, not realizing she’ll stay much longer than he could ever have anticipated. But that’s not his only problem. He’s dogged by guilt due to his failure to show the same level of solicitude toward his mother, a lonely widow.
Smith, who’s at the center of the movie, is in fine form as Shepherd, a gruff and fussy survivor. She carries The Lady in the Van on her sturdy shoulders.