Parental Guidance: How Family-Friendly Is The Lady in the Van?

Rating: PG-13, for a brief unsettling image.

Maggie Smith is adorably cantankerous in this true story of a homeless woman who parked her van in the driveway of a playwright’s London home and didn’t leave for 15 years. The Lady in the Van is based on Alan Bennett’s play of the same name, inspired by his real-life experience with a woman who requested to be addressed exclusively as Miss Shepherd. Nicholas Hytner’s film has plenty of hard-earned lessons about tolerance, generosity, and kindness. It features several characters who are repulsed by the sight and smell of Miss Shepherd but eventually find a soft spot in their hearts for her. But it also includes — spoiler alert — the discovery of her dead body inside the van toward the end; it’s a quiet, peaceful image, but it’s apparently the reason for the film’s PG-13 rating. The movie has a nice message, though, and should be fine for older kids and up.