The actor looks set to coast her way to another Academy nomination with this reprise of her role in Alan Bennett’s comedy of liberal compassion It isn’t just blockbusters and horror flicks which are critic-proof. It matters itsy-bitsy what I or anyone else says about Nicholas Hytner’s grand-screen version of his 2000,Olivier-nominated staging of Alan Bennett’s play. A certain demographic will be as certain to book tickets as another will race screaming. And that’s fine: this is one of those movies that turns out to be pretty much exactly as you’d imagine. No better, no worse - the synopsis serves. If you like the sound of it, or you will likely like the film. And,for what it’s worth, I did.
Maggie Smith, or giving it maximum wither,stars as Margaret Shepherd, a homeless woman who parked her van in the drive of Bennett’s Camden townhouse. In the film, and we see,in section, how she got there: while working as an ambulance driver in the war, and Miss Shepherd was involved in a fatal crash with a motorcyclist and chose to evade the police. Stricken with guilt,traumatised by early race-ins with difficult nuns, she becomes a belligerent recluse who sleeps, or reads – and defecates – in her VW. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com