Television film Meantime aside, High Hopes is Mike Leigh's second feature film after Bleak Moments and builds on the approach that he took with his debut. It's a comedy-drama that follows working-class couple Cyril and Shirley - played by Philip Davies and Ruth Sheen - as they interact with various friends, relatives, neighbours and acquaintances with various different political and social views, and it cemented Leigh's reputation as a filmmaker, even if it isn't without its flaws.
The loose plot follows the two leads and Cyril's elderly mother Mrs Bender, who is the last council house resident in an increasing gentrified London neighbourhood. Cyril is resolutely working class and a proud Marxist, whilst his sister Valerie and her husband Martin have worked their way into a middle class lifestyle, and Mrs Bender's new neighbours Laetitia and Rupert are decidedly upper class. Clashes of class run throughout the film and provide the film's funniest moments, and Leigh's class loyalties are obvious: Laetitia and Rupert are snooty, patronising and generally quite obnoxious, with Laetitia referring to council house tenants as "you people" and proving completely unable to grasp the fact that Mrs Bender is not in a position to buy her own home. Valerie and Martin are pretentious and deeply irritating social climbers. Martin is vulgar towards Valerie's mother and is having an affair; he stops off to see his mistress whilst taking Mrs Bender to her birthday party, leaving in the car, and he's relentlessly lecherous, drunkenly asking Shirley if she and Cyril have an open relationship. Tellingly, of the three couples in the film, only Cyril and Shirley are likeable and sympathetic.
The film shows Leigh at his perceptive best, but suffers from the fact that Laetitia and Rupert are over-the-top caricatures. Leigh always struggles to realistically portray the upper classes, as he previously demonstrated in his television work for the BBC, although Lesley Manville and David Bamber are hilarious in the roles and get some very funny scenes, especially the "Mr Sausage" one. For the most part however, the film shows off Leigh's knack for characterisation - devised, as usual, through collaboration with the cast - of even minor characters such as Jason Watkins' Wayne, newly arrived in London looking for work and very much a fish out of water, who ends up staying with Cyril and Shirley. The birthday party scene is excruciating to watch as a family gathering turns into arguments.
Whilst Manville and Bamber's characters never feel real, the cast is generally excellent with Davies in particular again proving that he's one of the most underrated actors of his generation. Heather Tobias' somewhat mannered performance as Valerie is gradually revealed to reflect the brittle façade she chooses to project, whilst Philip Jackson is appropriately boorish as Martin. Perhaps the finest performance however comes from Edna Doré, who gives a remarkable performance especially as Mrs Bender becomes increasingly confused and the film starts to explore darker waters when it becomes apparent that she is in the early stages of dementia (other serious themes are also explored, with lengthy discussions about Marxism and abortion).
Roger Pratt provides the cinematography and in keeping with Leigh's usual preferences makes extensive use of close-ups on the actors' faces. There's a focus too on minutiae, for example a shot of Mrs Bender's collection of daily medications. Much of Leigh's film and television output is filmed entirely on location, an overlooked trait that significantly boosts his reputation as a director and here sees him use the various London settings almost like an extra character in the film. Andrew Dickson meanwhile provides and alternatively wistful, melancholy, lively and whimsical harmonica-heavy score, which matches the film's shifting moods perfectly.
Like the best of Leigh's films, High Hopes presents the audience with the daily struggles of its characters' lives, but still manages to end reflectively but optimistically, with Cyril and Shirley discussing their hopes and fears for the future and Cyril resolving to ensure his mum is looked after, before the three of them reminisce whilst looking at the London skyline from the roof. It is an ending that leaves the audience with the impression that these fictional lives will continue long after the film ends, which is an impressive feat for any filmmaker to achieve.
The loose plot follows the two leads and Cyril's elderly mother Mrs Bender, who is the last council house resident in an increasing gentrified London neighbourhood. Cyril is resolutely working class and a proud Marxist, whilst his sister Valerie and her husband Martin have worked their way into a middle class lifestyle, and Mrs Bender's new neighbours Laetitia and Rupert are decidedly upper class. Clashes of class run throughout the film and provide the film's funniest moments, and Leigh's class loyalties are obvious: Laetitia and Rupert are snooty, patronising and generally quite obnoxious, with Laetitia referring to council house tenants as "you people" and proving completely unable to grasp the fact that Mrs Bender is not in a position to buy her own home. Valerie and Martin are pretentious and deeply irritating social climbers. Martin is vulgar towards Valerie's mother and is having an affair; he stops off to see his mistress whilst taking Mrs Bender to her birthday party, leaving in the car, and he's relentlessly lecherous, drunkenly asking Shirley if she and Cyril have an open relationship. Tellingly, of the three couples in the film, only Cyril and Shirley are likeable and sympathetic.
The film shows Leigh at his perceptive best, but suffers from the fact that Laetitia and Rupert are over-the-top caricatures. Leigh always struggles to realistically portray the upper classes, as he previously demonstrated in his television work for the BBC, although Lesley Manville and David Bamber are hilarious in the roles and get some very funny scenes, especially the "Mr Sausage" one. For the most part however, the film shows off Leigh's knack for characterisation - devised, as usual, through collaboration with the cast - of even minor characters such as Jason Watkins' Wayne, newly arrived in London looking for work and very much a fish out of water, who ends up staying with Cyril and Shirley. The birthday party scene is excruciating to watch as a family gathering turns into arguments.
Whilst Manville and Bamber's characters never feel real, the cast is generally excellent with Davies in particular again proving that he's one of the most underrated actors of his generation. Heather Tobias' somewhat mannered performance as Valerie is gradually revealed to reflect the brittle façade she chooses to project, whilst Philip Jackson is appropriately boorish as Martin. Perhaps the finest performance however comes from Edna Doré, who gives a remarkable performance especially as Mrs Bender becomes increasingly confused and the film starts to explore darker waters when it becomes apparent that she is in the early stages of dementia (other serious themes are also explored, with lengthy discussions about Marxism and abortion).
Roger Pratt provides the cinematography and in keeping with Leigh's usual preferences makes extensive use of close-ups on the actors' faces. There's a focus too on minutiae, for example a shot of Mrs Bender's collection of daily medications. Much of Leigh's film and television output is filmed entirely on location, an overlooked trait that significantly boosts his reputation as a director and here sees him use the various London settings almost like an extra character in the film. Andrew Dickson meanwhile provides and alternatively wistful, melancholy, lively and whimsical harmonica-heavy score, which matches the film's shifting moods perfectly.
Like the best of Leigh's films, High Hopes presents the audience with the daily struggles of its characters' lives, but still manages to end reflectively but optimistically, with Cyril and Shirley discussing their hopes and fears for the future and Cyril resolving to ensure his mum is looked after, before the three of them reminisce whilst looking at the London skyline from the roof. It is an ending that leaves the audience with the impression that these fictional lives will continue long after the film ends, which is an impressive feat for any filmmaker to achieve.