film is adapted from a true story. The play of the same name appeared on the stage in early 1999. In addition to the two characters of the male protagonist Alan Bennet (abbreviated as AB), the other character was played by the film AB. Played by Alex Jennings, he tells the story of a playwright (Alan Bennett) who lives in Camden Town, a community in northern London, since 1974 when he invited Miss Shepherd, a long-term resident who had not been relatives, and was displaced in a minivan to live in his front yard. It has maintained a delicate relationship of non-family and reason for nearly 15 years. The adjective used in the AB diary to describe this relationship is "odd", which is indeed more appropriate. One is a well-dressed urban autism playwright who has deep cleanliness and has split into two personalities and quarrels with himself every day; the other is sloppy and messy. The grumpy old lady refused to communicate with people, and the car was surrounded by flies all the year round.
As AB said, at first allowing MS and her minivan to move into the front yard was just to get tired of quarreling with her neighbors, avoid the noise and write with peace of mind. It was a relationship between the homeowner and the tenant, but then the opening remarks were made between colleagues and neighbors. The "how is your old lady" condolences weirdly put on the shadow of the marriage relationship, until finally unconsciously connecting her with her mother suffering from Alzheimer's, so that this relationship gradually became warm. In the last 15 years of getting along, AB only learned the reason why MS went crazy when he heard the music, and learned from her brother that she was an excellent pianist in the past. She was not close to him and her mother but kept in touch all the time. The strange state is the same. Although you meet and talk to some people every day, you don’t know them. This is the same as the uncle security guard in our office building, who kindly say goodbye every day, but I don’t even know his name. In 1989, MS was found dead peacefully in his minivan by a social worker. AB complained to the chagrin that he should have been the "first person to find out", which seemed to have developed a sense of possessiveness. But in general, AB himself prefers to describe it as a "neighborhood relationship", which has nothing to do with friendship.
What's interesting is that in MS's eyes, she doesn't think she is accepting the favor of AB, but feels that she is a benefactor. She thinks that living in the front yard of someone's house is to block many boring visitors and be a writer. A lot of inspiration was added to her life. In the film, after learning that AB wrote about her mother as the subject, she commented: "You have used your mother, now you can use me".
Anne Naysmith--- the car lady of Chiswick.
When the trailer first appeared on the Facebook face book, many Londoners connected the prototype of the story with another person. They With a surprisingly similar experience, she is Anne Naysmith who has lived in her Ford in Chiswick, West London for 26 years.
Anne died in a car accident in February 2015 at the age of 78. She graduated from the Royal College of Music in London and is a symphony pianist. She is at the peak of her career at the age of 25-39. She has participated in many large and small musical performances. She also served as a piano teacher in the early 1960s, but she suffered personally in the later period. After emotional changes and economic crisis, she gave up acting and teaching career and began a 26-year car home wandering life. Until 2002, she moved to a convertible built by herself near Stamford Brook subway station, during which she refused help from all walks of life. , Someone heard her singing in the community, her beautiful and smart voice made people feel regretful and lamented. Anne's deeds were smashing. After her death, someone put candles and roses in the garden where she once lived in Chiswick.
People can’t understand why she chooses such a lifestyle. It has been reported that she is very likely to suffer from Diogenes Syndrome (also known as Dirty Disorder Syndrome or House Syndrome). The symptoms are as follows: 1. Life is messy, extremely low self-esteem 2. Has compulsive hoarding behavior, unable to abandon property 3. Has a strong desire to live in seclusion, refuses help from others 4. Mainly appears in the elderly, sometimes accompanied by Alzheimer's disease.
Diogenes of Sinope--- Diogenes the Cynic
Diogenes of Sinope (Diogenes of Sinope) Greek philosopher, founded Cynic philosophy (also known as nihilism), he believed that good people are self-sufficient and do not need material enjoyment and wealth. (Good man was self-sufficient and didn't require material comforts or wealth). He once traveled around Greece naked, enjoying all the gifts of nature. The word "cynic" is derived from the Greek "dog" (Cynic), which means to abandon society, family responsibilities, pursuit of money or even personal health like a dog, in order to achieve the ultimate virtue and obtain perfect happiness (from Wikipedia ). Cynics in ancient times believed that the only condition for happiness was virtue. They advocated a natural and simple life, abandoned worldly values, and were self-sufficient regardless of fame and wealth.
The development of cynicism so far has more of a "cynic" taste, which is a kind of distrustful attitude towards the real society, and it is also a social and cultural form of "reasoning rationality by disbelief", with indifference and independence. His attitude fought back against social dissatisfaction. A fierce idealist is the easiest to transform into a complete nihilist. We don’t know what Anne Naysmith has experienced after 1967, but it’s not difficult to see from her previous brilliant acting career and excellent family background that she is a righteous person. A person with higher demands on her own, the incident that caused her life reversal undoubtedly hit the bottom line in her heart, and gradually collapsed her previous worldview and outlook on life, and returned to life in another extreme way.
Looking at Miss Shepherd again, I don't think she is a nihilist. I can only say that she may be a patient with Diogene Syndrome, although she has also experienced a major change in her life---traffic hit and run. As a Catholic nun, she honors God to perform the three vows (absolute wealth, outstanding beauty, and absolute will) all her life. Such crimes cannot be forgiven. At least she can't get through this hurdle, so she chooses to use extreme methods. Atonement and escape, but in the AB drama she has always been a person with strong political views. She is not satisfied with the current party. She created a Fidelius Party, distributed brochures to the local bank, and wrote slogans on the sidewalk with chalk. Write to "someone who's in charge of Argentina" and explain why she is more like an "Iron Lady" than Margaret Thatcher (why Argentina, please refer to the Falkland War in 1982), and even vowed to discuss with AB when she became Britain After the Prime Minister should set up the office in Downing Street or in her own minivan, AB also described her as a liberal, slightly guilty intellectuals (liberal, slightly guilty intellectuals). So this is different from the nihilism (cynic) who is obsessed with personal grievances and ignores things outside the window.
The following quotes a description of the life of Diogenes' cynics:
Lying on the bare earth, shoeless, bearded, half-naked, he looked like a beggar or a lunatic. He was one, but not the other. He had opened his eyes with the sun at dawn, scratched, done his business like a dog at the roadside, washed at the public fountain, begged a piece of breakfast bread and a few olives, eaten them squatting on the ground, and washed them down with a few handfuls of water scooped from the spring. Having no work to go to and no family to provide for, he was free. As the market place filled up with shoppers and merchants and slaves and foreigners, he had strolled through it for an hour or two. Everybody knew him, or knew of him. They would throw sharp questions at him and get sharper answers. Sometimes they threw bits of food, and got scant thanks; sometimes a mischievous pebble, and got a shower of stones and abuse.They were not quite sure whether he was mad or not. He knew they were mad, each in a different way; they amused him. Now he was back at his home
Translation (from the Internet):
He was barefoot, unshaven, half-naked, lying on the bare ground. He looked like a beggar or a madman. Of course he was not a madman. He woke up at dawn and scratched Itchy, peeing on the roadside like a dog, and washing by the public fountain. He begged for a slice of bread and some olives for breakfast, squatted on the ground and ate it, and then took a few mouthfuls of water from the fountain to deliver the food. He has no work to do, no family, and he is free. As the market is crowded with sellers, buyers, slaves and foreigners, it took him an hour or two to stroll around the market. Everyone Know him, or have heard of him. Sometimes people ask him sharp questions, and people get the same sharp answers. Sometimes people throw something at him and hardly get his thanks; sometimes people ask him If he throws stones in a mischievous way, he will be cursed or thrown back by a puff of stones. People are not very sure whether he is crazy, but he knows that they are crazy. Everyone's crazy situation is different, which makes him. Funny. Now he is back to his residence.
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