FILM

After the jolliness of ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’, Mike Leigh is back on solid miserable form with ‘Another Year’. Venue reports.

Who’d have thought Mike Leigh would follow ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’ with a Tom and Gerri movie? That’s Tom the geologist, played by Jim Broadbent, and Gerri the counsellor, played by Ruth Sheen: a happily married, middle-aged London couple who provide a beacon of warmth and stability in their friends’ chaotic and mostly unhappy lives. For Leigh, ‘Another Year’ is a generational shift from the thirtysomethings of his previous film. As usual, he refuses to be pinned down to a single theme but will allow that, “I did think, ‘OK, I’m going to do some people my age.’ That’s true.”

How come? “I’ve got lots of friends, and some of them are half my age. I’m not a person locked into my ancient world. I even hang out with my sons. I have a very good relationship with them. They’re in their late twenties, early thirties. Very much reminiscent of the relationship between Tom and Gerri and [the couple’s son] Joe in the film. But I do hang out sometimes with very old friends who go back to the Sixties. And I felt, ‘I have to deal with that a bit.’ Actually, this film doesn’t deal with it exclusively, but it’s there in the mix.”

The fact that people of this age group go through a lot of changes was also an attraction, though Leigh points out that he has dealt with this before in ‘High Hopes’ (the old lady with Alzheimer’s) and even ‘Topsy-Turvy’ (Gilbert’s bonkers dad). “As you get older, the natural thing that can so easily happen is that the parameters close down and it becomes about just being,” he reflects. “Thus you close up. And also people die. I’m already at an age where lots of people have died, including my long-time producer, Simon Channing-Williams, who died last year. So that affects the way you live and feel about yourself. And of course, the Tom and Gerris of this world we can relate to because they’re people who have interests in things and are fulfilled. As they say, it keeps you young.”

It wouldn’t be a Mike Leigh film without at least one character who will divide audiences. In this case it’s likely to be Gerri’s old friend Mary (played by Leigh regular Lesley Manville): a single fortysomething whose desperate unhappiness is uncorked with every bottle of wine. What’s her problem? “That is for the audience to decide, but you could look at her and say, ‘Here is a woman who’s plainly had bad luck.’ She’s a victim of her background, a victim of social mores. A woman who is unfortunate, and pressures have been put on her. Obviously, she’s been badly treated by people, particularly by men, and therefore she’s been unlucky. But you could also choose to say – and this is a matter of choice – maybe there are things that have happened to her where she’s only got herself to blame. Maybe she’s brought her problems upon herself. Obviously, she isn’t a spinster who has been isolated, and had no relationships and love in her life. She’s had great ups and downs, and passions. So it’s a complex thing really. In the end, all I’m concerned with is that I present a very rounded, thorough portrait of somebody, which is therefore sympathetic. It’s up to you what you feel about her.”

Given Mary’s enthusiasm for wine and Tom’s unhealthy pal Ken’s ability to knock back cans and bottles simultaneously, you could be forgiven for thinking that Leigh is also saying something about Brits’ relationship with alcohol here. “Well, first of all, of course the alcoholism in the film is not about alcoholism,” he objects. “It’s about pain and the need that people have to use alcohol or drugs to cope. And that’s the tragedy. It is true that the British seem to have more difficulty than anybody else in being moderate or controlling with drink. It’s very unhealthy. A great debate goes on as to whether bars should close early. What you mustn’t forget is that the UK is a mad country! Off the shores of Europe is this mad island! There’s a madness. You get off the boat in Dover, or off the plane at Heathrow, or the train at St. Pancras, and you are in a mad country. Crazy! Which is why we like it. Nowhere is as mad as the UK…I insist.”

 'ANOTHER YEAR' OPENED ON FRI 5 NOV. FOR REVIEW, CLICK HERE.
 

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