Happy-Go-Lucky

UK, 2008. Directed by Mike Leigh. Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Alexis Zegerman, Samuel Roukin, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Andrea Riseborough.

In my book any Mike Leigh film is going to be interesting in some way because of his unique, collaborative approach to constructing the characters and storyline. In this one we have an award-winning performance by Sally Hawkins as Poppy, a teacher whose mostly optimistic view of life is reflected in the film’s title. She is 30 years old and relentlessly – some would say irritatingly – chirpy and good humoured, with a childlike enthusiasm for much of what goes on around her. There is little plot; rather, we are shown episodes in her life over a short period of time – with girlfriends on a boozy night out, taking driving lessons, preparing for and taking a class at the primary school in which she works, an edgy visit to her married, pregnant sister, dealing with a child who’s being bullied, taking part in a dance class (hilarious!) and beginning a relationship with a new man in her life. Of these it is the driving lessons which are given the most screen time, with the instructor, Scott, being the other major character in the film. In a powerful performance by Eddie Marsan, we see that Scott is in a sense the antithesis to Poppy. Where she is happy and optimistic, he is depressed and pessimistic. Where she is chirpy and easy-going, he is despairing and serious. Where she is relaxed and open minded he is uptight and bigoted. Where she accepts the multiracial society she lives in he is a paranoid racist. Most of all he is profoundly angry – about almost everything. Verdict: an engrossing film which makes an impressive addition to Mike Leigh’s body of work and incidentally, how nice to see a film set in a real-life London instead of the picture postcard tour which is so often served up.