Mr. Movie: Maggie Smith’s performance in ‘The Lady in the Van’ is perfect

Now in her mid-80s, Maggie Smith’s sunken cheeks and hollow eyes make her the very picture of an old bag lady. The Lady in the Van is more or less a biopic and casts Smith as Miss Mary Shepherd, who is an unusual bag lady. She parked her wrecked, non-running van in the driveway of author and playwright Alan Bennett for 15 years.

Bennet first wrote a play about his experience with Shepherd. Smith (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) starred and it ran in London’s famed Queen’s Theater in 1999 and 2000. She reprised the role on the silver screen. Smith is joined by Alex Jennings, who plays Bennett, and by Jim Broadbent as a man blackmailing the totally confused Shepherd.

Smith’s always wary, always paranoid Shepherd is sometimes addled and sometimes sharp as a whip. There are places where you wonder if the woman is just pretending or if she really is totally daft. And Smith brilliantly keeps you guessing. This is really good work from an actress whose exceptional skills seem to just get better with age.

A wonderful yang to Smith’s yin is Jennings. She demands much of Bennett, who can’t stand her but can’t stand not helping. And director Nicholas Hytner (The Madness of King George) and Bennett — who wrote the screenplay — have fun with his character. They have Bennett talking to an imaginary self who is more practical and less nice about the matter. Some of that dialogue is hilarious, and much of the interaction with Smith is equally funny.

And the chemistry Jennings has with Smith is pitch-perfect. But as good as Jennings is, and as nasty as Broadbent’s character, the movie really belongs to Smith, who makes this ordinary story most extraordinary.

This story was originally published March 10, 2016 at 2:05 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie: Maggie Smith’s performance in ‘The Lady in the Van’ is perfect."