I saw The Lady in the Van at the cinema yesterday and hoped it wasn't spoiled by the numerous different trailers I'd seen over the month or so it had been previewed. Thankfully, it wasn't and there is much more to it than the moment in the trailers.
Maggie Smith is brilliant as the titular character whilst Alex Jennings is remarkable as two different versions of Alan Bennett: the one who writes about things and the one who does things (they are on screen at the same time and, for what it's worth, I thought his performance was better than Tom Hardy doing a similar thing in Legend). It's a film full of memorable lines and scenes; some funny, some almost heartbreaking in their pathos.
The fact that it is, as the caption at the beginning says, 'a mostly true story' and was filmed in the house in which Alan Bennett lived at the time (the real Alan Bennett makes a cameo appearance at the end) adds to the sense of authenticity which is so prevalent in Bennett's writing.
Thankfully, it has stayed around in cinemas longer than I expected, but will probably disappear in the next fortnight, so catch it while you can – highly recommended.
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