Confronted by the Lady in the Van

This film shares a kind of true story between the English playwright Alan Bennett and the single Miss Shepherd, a woman of uncertain origins who 'temporarily' parked her van in Bennett's Camden driveway for 15 years. It is both touching and confronting. Alan Bennet, played by Alex Jennings, is an introverted writer who seems to be waiting for his life to start. He feels responsible for his aging mother, and while he cannot live with and care for her, he seems to assuage his guilt by looking out for Miss Shepherd, played brilliantly by Maggie Smith. Alan is played by dual personas, the writer who sits and watches life and the one who lives the life to be written about. Ironically, this does not seem to work, because both seem afraid of really living. They are at odds with their colourful neighbourhood of superficial left-wing do-gooders, who prefer to give Miss Shepherd things they don't want, to keep her away. They really do care for her, but are still not at liberty to really live the life they want to.... On the other hand, we do learn a little about the rather twisted life of the eccentric Miss Shepherd, who in contrast, it transpires, is running away from her life. She had been a gifted pianist, was a nun and had been incarcerated in a mental institution. There was always some doubt as to what was causal, and as expected, the catholic church did not come out blameless...