THE LADY IN THE VAN [2015 / 2016] [Blu-ray + Digital HD ULTRAVIOLET] [UK Release]
Dame Maggie Smith is Glorious! One of the Best British Films of the Year!
Based on the true story, Miss Mary Shepherd was a woman of uncertain origins who “temporarily” parked her van in Alan Bennett’s London driveway and proceeded to live there for 15 years. What began as a begrudged favour became a relationship that would change both their lives. Filmed on the street and in the house where Alan Bennett and Miss Mary Shepherd lived for all those years, acclaimed director Nicholas Hytner reunites with Alan Bennett [‘The Madness of King George’ and ‘The History Boys’] to bring this funny, poignant, and life-affirming story to the screen.
FILM FACT No.1: Awards and Nominations: 2016 Golden Globes: Nominated: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture for a Musical or Comedy for Dame Maggie Smith. 2016 BAFTA Awards: Nominated: BAFTA Film Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Dame Maggie Smith. 2016 AARP Movies for Grownups Awards: Nominated: Best Actress for Dame Maggie Smith. 2016 Evening Standard British Film Awards: Win: Best Actress for Dame Maggie Smith.
FILM FACT No.2: Nicholas Hytner directed the original stage production at the Queen's Theatre in London, while Alan Bennett adapted the screenplay from his 1999 West End play of the same name, which was nominated at the 2000 Olivier Awards for Play of the Year. The film was shown in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. The film's score consists of classical music by Chopin and others; some additional music was composed by George Fenton.
Cast: Dame Maggie Smith, Jim Broadbent, Clare Hammond, George Fenton, BBC Concert Orchestra, Alex Jennings, Jamie Parker, Deborah Findlay, Roger Allam, Richard Griffiths, Pandora Colin, Nicholas Burns, Dominic Cooper, Giles Cooper, Tom Klenerman, Gwen Taylor, Frances de la Tour, Claire Foy, James Corden, George Taylor, David Calder, Eleanor Matsuura, Selina Cadell, Charlie Hancock, Dan Raza, Dermot Crowley, Clive Merrison, Samuel Barnett, Russell Tovey, Samuel Anderson, Michelle Reid, Sam Spruell, Rosalind Knight, Elliot Levey, Sarah Lieberson, Cecilia Noble, Hannah Watson, Linda Broughton, Stephen Campbell Moore, Marion Bailey, Sacha Dhawan, Andrew Knott, Lorna Brown, June Watson, Sam McArdle, Tony Van Silva, Geoffrey Streatfeild, Alan Bennett (2014), Richard Banks (uncredited), Jessica Bastick-Vines (uncredited), Bern Collaço (uncredited), Tom Coulston (uncredited), Edward Heath (archive footage) (uncredited), Janette Sharpe (uncredited), Tina Simmons (uncredited) and Margaret Thatcher (archive footage) (uncredited)
Director: Nicholas Hytner
Producers: Damian Jones, Ed Wethered, Faiza Hosenie, Kevin Loader and Nicholas Hytner
Screenplay: Alan Bennett (screenplay/memoir)
Composer: George Fenton
Cinematography: Andrew Dunn (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
English Audio Descriptive: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Hindi and Polish
Running Time: 104 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / BBC Films
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: If crotchety upper-class vagrant Miss Mary Shepherd hadn’t turned up on the North London doorstep of the celebrated playwright Alan Bennett, he might have had to make her up, if only to give Dame Maggie Smith, our veritable Garbo of dingbat hauteur, one of the most tailor-made leading roles of her late career. Then again, perhaps vagrant Miss Mary Shepherd was partly his idea: The tension between life experience and authorial invention is the one complicating factor in ‘THE LADY IN THE VAN’ [2015] otherwise heart-warming crowd-pleasing studies of two eccentric introverts, on opposite sides of the poverty line and finding common ground in more ways than one. Low on narrative drive, and marred by a misjudged final-act swerve into extravagant whimsy, Nicholas Hytner’s amiable luvvie-fest is enlivened by Dame Maggie Smith’s signature irascibility; at least in healthy vanloads. Nicholas Hytner and Alan Bennett dramatize this evolving turf war of sorts and one that gradually yields mutual understanding, if not quite friendship, but mainly in ambling, semi-sitcom style. The puzzle of Miss Mary Shepherd’s backstory, stoked by occasional night-time visits from an apparent blackmailer (a leering Jim Broadbent) and all in all the film is a brilliant portrayal of a truly odd couple, and where also the screenplay touches on guilt, atonement and how nastily nuns can behave.
‘THE LADY IN THE VAN’ sees Dame Maggie Smith as the terrific as the muse in Alan Bennetts’ driveway. Dame Maggie Smith is excellent as the homeless woman who parked her camper van in Alan Bennett’s garden for 15 years, in this enjoyable film about their poignant relationship from Nicholas Hytner. Dame Maggie Smith gets the chance to play someone grander than the Dowager Countess of Grantham, although with the same piercing stare of disapproval, pinched lips and bird-like head movements, as she assesses the unsatisfactory nature of everything around her. Two Academy Awards® out of six nominations, five BAFTA awards, three Emmys awards, three Golden Globes awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Tony. It’s exhausting just to list the accolades that Dame Maggie Smith has accumulated over her decades on screen and stage: Imagine how tiring it must have been to earn them all. With two Alan Bennetts and Dame Maggie Smith channelling a down-and-out dowager countess, this touching true story of the woman who lived in a van on the writer’s drive is a brilliantly British triumph.
Dame Maggie Smith plays Miss Mary Shepherd, the “Lady in the Van,” in this very enjoyable film directed by Nicholas Hytner and adapted by Alan Bennett from his London Review of Books memoir about the haughty, cantankerous homeless woman who bullied him into having her chaotic camper van in his driveway for 15 years. Dame Maggie Smith’s performance, honed from the previous stage and radio versions, is terrifically good. Dame Maggie Smith as Miss Mary Shepherd never says thank you or allows any charitable deed to go unpunished; Dame Maggie Smith shows how this once educated, talented woman is brazening out her agonised private guilt, and her presence is accompanied by much hand-wringing and suppressed distaste among the upscale north London neighbours, not unlike some of the characters resemble those featured in Alan Bennett's 1960s cartoon series “The Stringal.”
Alex Jennings gives a sharp and sympathetic performance as Alan Bennett, arguing with himself in split-screen, like a one-man married couple. Jennings shows that Alan Bennett’s reasons for allowing Miss Mary Shepherd to walk all over him were not down to timidity, or English reticence, or Christian charity, or because she was a guilty mother-substitute and he dismisses this glib parallel or even because he intended from the outset to use her as material.
‘THE LADY IN THE VAN’ might have been a kind of muse: the driving force behind his dramatic work, with its brilliant insights into loneliness and age. With Alan Bennett, Miss Mary Shepherd performed a strange, poignant duet of prickly unhappiness and wry humour. The likes of Roger Allam, Dominic Cooper and James Corden play useful cameo roles and the great Alan Bennett himself rolls up on his bike for the unveiling of a blue plaque to the sacred site at the end. But the glory of the film goes to the brilliant Dame Maggie Smith. There's nobody like her: so wonderfully Grande dame in any degree of squalor. All any of us can aspire to in the end, perhaps. But while her performance in ‘THE LADY IN THE VAN’ was very much in the discussion for Best Actress this year, her age was scarcely brought up at all and exactly as it should be. Dame Maggie Smith has no need for such handicapping. Dame Maggie Smith is not a gimmick; she is a treasure. This real cinematic pleasure is one of the best British films to come out in years.
THE LADY IN THE VAN MUSIC TRACK LIST
Piano Concerto No. 1 In E Minor, OP. 11 (Written by Frédéric Chopin) [Performed by Clare Hammond and BBC Concert Orchestra] [Orchestra Leader Charles Mutter] [The principal piano piece that recurs throughout the film is Chopin's Piano Concerto 1, using both the slow middle (second) movement "romanza" and the quick final (third) movement "rondo". Alfred Cortot was especially associated with playing Chopin's piano oeuvre.]
LONDON’S BURNING (Traditional)
PRETTY PLEASE (Written by Leon and Levi Triplett) [Performed by The Triplett Twins]
Symphony No. 9 In D Minor, Op. 125 (Written by Ludwig van Beethoven)
LIBERTY OF ACTION (Written by Herman Langschwert and Wolfgang Killian) [Performed by Herman Langschwert and Wolfgang Killian]
Impromptu In G Flat Major, Op. 90, No. 3 (Written by Franz Schubert) [Performed by Hannah Watson]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has brought you this 2015 film looking really good to amazing on this 1080p encoded image Blu-ray, as well as an equally very nice 1.85:1 aspect ratio. ‘THE LADY IN THE VAN’ has very exceptional detail, strong contrast levels and some amazing colour levels. The fine detail is never in doubt, with every fibre and wrinkle on the aging actors bodies and clothing are always visible, and the while the contrast is pushed to the high end of the spectrum, it never washes out the blacks TOO much. With that being said, I did notice a couple of times where said contrast gave the blacks a slightly washed out hue, but those were mostly at the beginning of the film, while the rest of the film sports deep and inky blacks. Colours are warm and natural, with cheery blues, greens and pastels to fill out the image with a good feel to the film. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Sony Pictures Home Entertainment brings you also an equally impressive 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track on board sports great fidelity from the centre channel, which carries most of the weight, and features a good balance with the rest of the track but you know what to expect from your average drama in the audio department. Again this Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Blu-ray release offers a totally rich and rewarding 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track, as I am very happy and very pleased with this UK Release’s audio presentation. What is also impressive is composer George Fenton supplied carefully calibrated score, which traverses the film's complex emotional territory with the composer's characteristic delicacy and the audio sounds are really clean, clear and well balanced throughout. So anyone purchasing this particular Blu-ray UK Release will be very well rewarded.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Audio Commentary with Director Nicholas Hytner: Here Nicholas Hytner introduces himself and welcoming you to join him with this audio commentary while watching the film. Nicholas basically says the film is about Alan Bennett and his encounters with Miss Shepherd and her vans. We find out that Miss Shepherd is basically on the run from the police, because she felt it was her fault that she caused the accident with the young man on his motorcyclist, but of course we eventually find out that Miss Mary Shepherd was not a criminal. Nicholas Hytner feels the film portrays Alan Bennet perfectly and very much like his real private life. We find out that when we see Dame Maggie Smith wandering around Camden High Street, it was actually filmed in Dalston High Street as the place has not changed, whereas Camden High Street has changed very dramatically. Many of the British actors in the film have worked with Nicholas Hynter in the theatre a lot. The Jim Broadbent character of the corrupt policeman, was thought up by Alan Bennett to show why Miss Shepherd was trying live incognito, to keep the story flowing. When we see the scene where Miss Mary Shepherd is in Broadstairs [coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England], and meets her Brother in the shed, well this actually happened in real life, because the Brother’s wife would not allow Miss Mary Shepherd in the house. As we get near to the end of the film, especially with the last 24 hours of Miss Mary Shepherd’s life, before she passed away, Alan Bennett found a note left for him to contact her Brother and in real life Alan Bennett goes to Broadstairs to actually meet the Brother, which you see in the film. When we get the final surreal ending of the film where Miss Shepherd appearing after being buried, and talking to the two Alan Bennet’s is how it happened in the play at The National Theatre, and of course it is an imagination of his inner thoughts of what might happen if he did meet the ghost of Miss Mary Shepherd, and of course it is a way to get the last word from Miss Shepherd over Alan Bennett. Nicholas Hytner sums up the film, by saying that what a joy it was to make the film and especially everyone who was involved with the film, who were a great team to work with and was also a great honour to make the film, especially in memory of Miss Mary Shepherd.
Special Feature: Playing The Lady: Dame Maggie Smith as Miss Shepherd [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [6:22] First up with this special feature is Nicholas Hytner [Director] who talks about extensively about the amazing stage and screen actress Dame Maggie Smith. Since the 1960s, has been one of the shinning stars of the original The National Theatre Company under the guidance of Sir Lawrence Olivier, and played Desdemona in “OTHELLO” and of course has won countless of Oscars® and especially for ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,’ and has never stopped be a true performer throughout the 20th Century. But of course what happened when any actress and especially of the calibre of Dame Maggie Smith reaches that certain age, because the great parts tend to dry up and are harder to acquire when you are over the retirement age, but of course when a truly brilliant part does come along in the guise of Miss Mary Shepherd, it reminds you that it shows you the terrific high point in Dame Maggie Smith’s career so far. But of course we find out that the part of Miss Mary Shepherd was written specifically for Dame Maggie Smith, and it was on instinct from Alan Bennet and Nicholas Hytner that secure Dame Maggie Smith the part of Miss Shepherd. Next up is Alex Jennings [Alan Bennett] and found working with Dame Maggie Smith was an extraordinary experience, especially observing the powerful performance of thus brilliant actress. Next up is Kevin Loder [Producer] who comments on the fact that it was very brave of Dame Maggie Smith being known as a “National Treasure” to become the character of this grumpy old woman. Then we come onto the wonderful Dame Maggie Smith [Miss Shepherd] and comments on the fact that the actual Miss Shepherd was a very unpleasant woman, and says it was a very odd experience from going into the character of Miss Mary Shepherd and feels her life was a real waste and personally feels deep down that Miss Mary Shepherd really felt a sense of regret. We find out that Alan Bennett only really found out the true character of Miss Mary Shepherd after the lady passed away, and in doing so Alan Bennett found out some truly wonderful material about her reel life from the past, and that is why Alan Bennett was able to produce something special, truly magical and also something truly remarkable. But Alex Jennings at the end of this special feature says that working with Dame Maggie Smith was again a formidable and a true privilege with this wonderful actress, who he felt and everyone else though, gave a truly extraordinary performance.
Special Feature: The Making of ‘THE LADY IN THE VAN’ [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [13:46] We are informed that ‘The Lady in the van’ was based loosely on a true story, but with a few embellishments, where Alan Bennett is a real writer who once lived in Gloucester Crescent near Camden Town in London . . . and to the build up to the making of the film, we get clips from the film to set the scene. Here Nicholas Hytner [Director] informs us that Alan Bennet [Writer] moved into the house in Gloucester Crescent in 1968, where Alan Bennett talks about when he moved into his home, he noticed Miss Shepherd van parked in Gloucester Crescent just up the road from him, but after 3 months Miss Mary Shepherd eventually let her van drift to the next house, and eventually opposite Alan’s house, and around 1974 the council tried to move her on, and of course Miss Mary Shepherd finally winkled her way into parking he van in Alan’s driveway, and of course lasted for 15 years. But Alan Bennett says that if he had known the vent was going to last 15 years, he would never have dreamt of doing it, and of course things just creep up on you without warning. But of course the lady in the van did not go unnoticed by the residents of Gloucester Crescent and especially a young director named Nicholas Hytner, who moved into the area in 1983, and he knew Alan Bennett lived at No.23 and could not work out what this yellow van was doing parked in Alan Bennett’s driveway, that was covered in bits of old carpet and the strange system of wires running between the van and the house, and as usual the English are always too polite to ask. Dame Maggie Smith asked Alan Bennett, “how come it lasted for such a long time that Miss Shepherd was there,” and Alan Bennett says, “well she didn’t impinge,” and Dame Maggie Smith thought, what do you have to impinge on Alan Bennett. At the age of 78 years of age, Miss Mary Shepherd passed away, and of course Alan Bennett wrote of his encounter with Miss Mary Shepherd over the 15 year period and of course published the now famous memoirs of this period that Alan Bennett experienced with Miss Shepherd. But in 1999 Alan Bennett adapted “The Lady in the Van” into a play, which was directed by Nicholas Hytner, which had Dame Maggie Smith playing the part of Miss Mary Shepherd and ran for 9 months at the Queen’s Theatre in London. But in 2012 Alan Bennett and Nicholas Hytner collaborated on another play entitled “Cocktail Sticks” and starred Alex Jennings playing the part of Alan Bennett, who everyone thought he played the paly writer very convincingly. In 2014, filming started filming ‘THE LADY IN THE VAN,’ and just like the play. Nicholas Hytner was to direct the film and here we get to see behind-the-scene filming in Camden. Everyone felt they could not make the film without Dame Maggie Smith and breathed a sigh of relief when the Grande Dame agreed to appear in the film. But of course they wanted Alex Jennings to appear as Alan Bennett, because of his portrayal as Alan Bennett in the play. The filmmakers felt that the film had to be shot in Alan Bennet’s original home he once lived in and on top of all that Alan Bennett was really pleased with the result of the film. Sadly Miss Mary Shepherd passed away in 1989, but today her story still touches those who knew her, as well as those worked on the film about her life.
Special Feature: Deleted Scenes [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [4:34] You have a selection of three deleted scenes, which consist of “You Could Get Tent;” “I’m Preparing My Manifesto” and “She Has A Low Quiet Voice.” Once again you can either select to watch them individually or Play All.
Special Feature: The Visual Effects [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [7:28] This special feature shows you how they did the trick photography in having two Alex Jennings appearing at the same time and as you will see the second Alex Jennings is played by the extra George Taylor, who has to wear the same clothing and what you get to see is screen wipes to show you how it was all done. Kevin Loader [Producer] informs us that in the play, the second person was the landlord who was always complaining about Miss Mary Shepherd in Alan Bennett’s driveway. But they felt for the film it was much better to have the second Alan Bennett who was his inner thoughts talking. We also have input from Mervyn New [VFX Supervisor – Union VFX] who talks about the intricate technical camera set ups, especially how they got Dame Maggie Smith to rise up to heaven and to be welcomed by God. All in all this is a really fascinating insight into how they produced all the special visual effects.
Theatrical Trailer [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [1:58] This is the original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘THE LADY IN THE VAN.’ This is a totally brilliant presentation and gives you a real treat in showing off selections from the film that really shows you why it has been the big box office hit it deserves to be.
Finally, it says a lot that just about every surviving cast member from this director’s screen version of ‘The History Boys’ pops up for a cameo role like Jamie Parker as an estate agent, James Corden as a market trader, and literally half a dozen others. Frances de la Tour plays the widow of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Roger Allam a slimy hypocrite of a neighbour. Perhaps it depends if you want all your national treasures dumped out of the chest at once. There are cherish able lines and moments, like “There’s air freshener behind the Virgin”, says a local priest to the parishioner unfortunate enough to follow Mary into the confession booth. Her heedless smearing of mimosa paint on the driveway brickwork is a lovely touch. But of one thing, there’s even less doubt: it's guaranteed to please absolutely everyone who already knows they’ll love it. Also at one point of the film the great Alan Bennett himself rolls up on his bike for the unveiling of a blue plaque to the sacred site at the end. But the glory of the film of course must go to the wonderful Dame Maggie Smith, because there is nobody like her, a true tour de force of such a wonderful Grande dame in any degree of squalor. All any of us in the end can aspire to it in the end. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
