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Tuesday, 24 June 2008 |
 Starring Sally Hawkins, Alexis Zegerman; Directed by Mike Leigh
Poppy Cross likes to make people happy. Not as a jolly blend of Maria von Trapp and Mother Theresa, but in a wilfully sunny manner that highlights the shiny side of life.
Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky is a delightful comedy of mannerisms that digs into society’s responses to the terminally cheerful. It’s a study that also plays out on the audience’s expectations: such is Leigh’s body of work (Naked, Vera Drake) that one expects calamity around every corner. The cloud behind this silver lining is felt most when Poppy, a recent student of driving, presses all of her over-wrought instructor’s buttons. “It’s not easy being you is it?” she says, after a particularly rabid tantrum about the disease of multiculturalism.
Yet carefree is not to be confused with careless. Leigh reveals a multifaceted character whose purposeful outlook marks a jumping-off point for an examination of the intransigent negativity of urban dwellers. Supported by her closest friend Zoe, Poppy is an utterly joyful and thoroughly infectious character. She’s a latter-day David who tackles the towering Goliath of misery with a quick laugh and deprecating wit, felling unhappiness wherever it stands.
Not that Zoe is entirely convinced – “are you happy?” she asks with concern. It’s a good question - can anyone be this joyful without medication? And that question is exactly Leigh’s point.
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