Happy-Go-Lucky film review

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HAPPY-GO-LUCKY

After the grim brilliance of the 2004 period piece Vera Drake, Mike Leigh returns to more familiar ground with a freewheeling slice-of-life following the ups and downs of a young teacher in contemporary London. It's to be highly recommended: a joyful, uplifting film (possibly the cheeriest Leigh has ever made), and in Sally Hawkins' central role there is a female performance which stands out as much as Alison Steadman did when she unleashed Beverly in the 1970s landmark piece Abigail's Party.

Hawkins - who won the Best Actress award at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year - pulls off a remarkable feat. It would be very easy for her character to be completely irritating. Her Poppy looks on the bright side of everything, always has a giggle or a cheeky comment ready and acts very much like one of those people who says 'Cheer up, it might never happen'. Yet while she initially grates, by the end of the film it's likely that most of the audience will have fallen in love with her.

This is also largely due to a script by Leigh - presumably worked and worked through with his actors in his famous rehearsal process - that is often downright hilarious thanks to not only Hawkins' delivery but the cast surrounding her. In particular her relationship with her flatmate Zoe (a brilliant, ebullient turn by newcomer Alexis Zegerman) is arguably the film's highlight. The two of them are completely convincing and quite capable of reducing each other, and those watching, to hysterics.

The plot is almost incidental: Poppy takes driving lessons from London's most stressed-out instructor Scott (Eddie Marsan), takes some flamenco lessons with a teacher friend, and sorts out some issues at school as well as her love life. Small moments perhaps, but there is huge joy to be had watching them unfold.

Leigh does put a couple of feet wrong: there's a mystifying and somewhat redundant sequence involving a tramp, and a couple of the performances are of the extreme and unbelievable type that made much of his work in the 80s and 90s difficult to believe in. But this is largely a film that has a grounding in reality, and Hawkins' character is one of the year's most unforgettable screen creations.

Paul Hurley