David O'ConnellHappy-Go-Lucky
November 23rd 2010 04:41
Poppy (Sally Hawkins) is one of Mike Leigh’s more ‘extreme’ characters. A caring, sensitive primary school teacher, she's also manic, insanely cheery - and devoid of a filter for the cascading trillions of thoughts that enter her brain and are rapidly expelled into the wider world. Poppy is the sort of character that will either leave you rolling on the floor clutching your belly with laughter or wailing as if at the sound of a classroom full of jagged-nailed children attacking their blackboards with reckless abandon. You don’t know whether to hug her or throw a strait-jacket over her head.
When Poppy’s bicycle is stolen in the opening scene, she decides it’s finally time to get a learner’s permit. Thus, the most compelling relationship of Happy-Go-Lucky is set in motion as Poppy is assigned the embittered, cantankerous Scott (Eddie Marsan) as a driving instructor. Scott is a man harboring a seething hatred for the world and all its inhabitants. As you can imagine, Poppy’s in-your-face eccentricities have the effect of electric pulses being fed into Scott’s spine before long when she refuses to act like an adult and follow instructions with the level of seriousness he demands. Frankly I was surprised Scott didn’t pull out the jack after their very first lesson and beat Poppy to a pulp by the side of the road. But then again, that grisly outcome would have deprived us of what are clearly the film’s standout scenes.
The rest of Poppy’s story begins to feel like filler after a while; it’s the next driving lesson we’re hankering to see, but in the meantime Leigh teases us with spirited insights into Poppy’s ties with her two sisters and friendship with longtime flatmate Zoe (Alexis Zegerman). The camaraderie they all share is very convincingly portrayed and offers some humourous respite from the morbidly entertaining, often antagonistic lessons in which Scott’s racism melds destructively with the regimentation he imposes during his lessons.
Unfortunately Poppy’s diagnosis of Scott’s deep-rooted mental issues is a little too simplistically associated with an insight she receives via a subplot involving one of her students who consistently bullies his classmates. In consecutive scenes we see Poppy come to a silent conclusion from her desk before probing Scott about his childhood as the next lesson begins. Another minor negative comes in the form of a clichéd romantic interest for Poppy in the film’s latter stages as a counselor contacted by the school to confront the bully’s problems ends up far more interested in pursuing the boy’s teacher after hours. A late night encounter with a mentally unstable homeless man could easily have been edited from the film without losing a single moment of worth.
Hawkins gives a remarkable – mostly improvised – performance it must be said, love her or hate her (and there are plenty of critics positioned in both camps). Her elastic characterisation is liable to veer off in ten different directions at once, making for an unpredictability that is as endearing as it is baffling at times. Unless you know someone like this you may question her credibility as a human being. (Personally I'm truly grateful I don't know anyone like this despite their obvious entertainment value under circumstances such as this). Marsan, recently used to brilliant effect in The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2010), is just as good in a starkly contrasting role; for every emotional reaction spilling out of Poppy, Scott keeps another ten bottled up inside before a fuse of provocation is lit.
I actually loved Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) though I’ll be the first to admit that it doesn’t come to close to grim Leigh masterpieces like Naked (1993) or Secrets and Lies (1996). It comes with a strict qualification: Poppy is an acquired taste if ever there was one. If you can stomach her eccentric mannerisms and non-stop verbal tics for the first 30 minutes you might even make it through to the end.
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Comment by Matt Shea
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
I havn't been that keen to see any of Leigh's film of late, he's really taken a nose dive since Secrets and Lies. I assume I'll land up checking this one out anyway.
By the way David, have you ever seen my favourite Leigh film, 'Meantime' (starring a very young Gary Oldman and Tim Roth)?
Comment by Michaelie Clark
Flick Wit
Good review!
Mich
Comment by Michaelie Clark
Flick Wit
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
This is definitely worth seeing anyway, just to see how long your tolerance for this sort of character holds.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
You are so right about Poppy, I god damn hated her! So annoying and unbelievably optimistic. Unlike say Amelie who I fell for in the end because of her struggle, Poppy is just a shallow figure unable to process the world around her.
Easily the worst film Mike Leigh has done IMO.
The one positive in the film was the driving instructor, though if he had smashed Poppy's face in i would have liked him even more
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic