Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

This is a true story that Alan Bennett wrote about a homeless lady Miss Shepherd who stayed in a van on the street near his house in seventies.The character of Alan Bennett is played excellently by Alex Jennings -who is always talking with his alter ego in the house, while he is scribbling his new play and notes in his book. The portrayal of Miss Shepherd is portrayed by Maggie Smith - and she lives the eccentric character - living under the skin. All awards - won or nominated were for Maggie Smith's brilliant performance. The story is about this girl Mary or Margaret (the younger version played by Clare Hammond) who is a gifted pianist, aspires to become a nun, but because of her argumentative nature is thrown away and admitted by her brother to an asylum from where she runs away and at one point in her life - has a car accident in which a young motor- cyclist dies. She does not report the incident and always blames herself - living under the fear that one day she might be arrested for the crime.There are several layers in the character of Miss Mary Shepherd that we come to know with each small episode she has with a big hearted Alan Bennett - who hesitantly gives her a temporary place to part the vehicle in front of his house, then in his empty front park - and that beautiful bond of LOVE relationship continues for 15 years till she dies. The real Miss Shepherd died in 1986, and she was granted a placard on the house of Alan Bennett by the community she lived in - which stands even today. The movie has wonderful chatty conversations and dialogues between Alan and Alan's alter ego interrupting Alan and Mary's conversations - that are sometimes hilarious Very well written and adapted screenplay from the memoir written by Alan Bannett by the same name.Made on a budget of USD 6 million, the movie has raked in more than USD 40 million worldwide. The Director Nicholas Hytner has done a commendable job in sticking to the authenticity of the narrative. What is beautiful about the character of Miss Shepherd is her unwillingness to leave her life on any one else's terms. Her stubbornness and whimsical eccentric nature holds on true to the humor and empathy she evokes.All is done well with the humanity and out-reach of Alan Bennett who though shies to recognize to his credit the give immortality to this affable character of Miss Shepherd by his memoir and later by this movie.The movie makes us sensitive to the way old people are neglected and suffer and how they need some support and LOVE from someone - although strangers.The memoir has also been enacted as a popular play in United Kingdom.I would go with 6.75 out of 10 for this nice to watch movie

Unusually, the user reviews here are, almost all, well-considered, and there is little useful to add. Music, cinematography, editing, lighting all support the consistent high standard of acting and direction. The themes - compassion, loneliness, manipulation, love, old age and so on - are teased out in careful Bennett fashion. We are engaged and entranced by a film that does not disappoint, yet does not seek to promise more than it can deliver. I saw Maggie Smith play a youthful Desdemona to Laurence Olivier's Othello, and this, at the other extent of her acting life, is as riveting performance as I can remember.

The writer doesn't want to bother with the crazy woman in the van, but his other half can not turn away a needy person. The entire neighborhood grows and evolves around the woman in the van. Back in the day, when this originally almost truly happened, people were different. People cared for people. Miss Shepherd was portrayed perfectly by Maggie Smith. I love how she blurts out lines and then follows up with a sensible statement. You can see the fear she has about her past, and the need to know in her landlords expressions. The curiosity wants you to shot out: Tell me what happened to her. Why would she live in a van for so many years?I really liked this movie.

Sails a little close to sentimentality at times but perhaps that forgivable, a sweet story about a not so sweet lady. A great and largely true tale, Maggie Smith is magnificent and Alex Jennings very good. A special mention for Frances De La Tour and the score, both great. Why my reservations? Well not much happens which is fine, but this in turn, turns your attention to the characters and that's where TLIV misses the mark. I think the decision to cast Jennings as two Allan Benetts was a theatrical contrivance that doesn't gel cinematically. A voice over would have worked far better and elevated this good movie to great. So watch and enjoy but mark this down as a missed opportunity.