Happy-Go-Lucky, the new film by British writer/director/playwright Mike Leigh, starts with a shot of Poppy (Sally Hawkins) happily speeding through London on her bicycle. The whimsical, sweeping soundtrack recalls Amelie, seeming to promise a life-affirming, uplifting tale of an optimistic girl who brings joy and renewed vigor to life. Then Poppy opens her mouth.
From the second we see Poppy begin to interact with those around her, it becomes apparent that she is not nearly as charming and fun as she thinks she is. Her impish mannerisms and constant giggling often veer into the obnoxious, and her job as a grade school teacher does not excuse her childish behavior. Yet beneath Poppy’s professed happiness about life, we find, there is some serious pain.
Poppy’s eternal optimism becomes insufferable in the face of so much misery. The script seems to side with Scott (Eddie Marsan), Poppy’s foil. Scott is a driving instructor trying in vain to teach Poppy the rules of the road. Though racist, homophobic, and a stickler for the rules, at least the man is honest. His frustration towards Poppy threatens to explode during seemingly minor gaffes, such as Poppy’s insistence on wearing boots unsuitable to driving or her steadfast refusal to shut up and let Scott do his job. Scott’s frustration becomes a proxy for the audience as Poppy laughs off calamities, both major and minor.
The ability of Sally Hawkins to create a three-dimensional character who flawlessly transitions from mood to mood is a testament to Mike Leigh’s direction ability. Leigh held a series of improvisation sessions with the cast to round the characters out before writing the script. Together, they refused to make Poppy into anything other than a fascinating and flawed individual, sometimes lovely and sometimes cringe-inducing, but never boring. The rest of the ensemble cast is uniformly good, mostly pulled from the British stage.
As with all the best comedies, Happy-Go-Lucky leaves the audience halfway between laughter and tears. Leigh has made a movie admirable in its deviation from normal standards of behavior. Poppy is difficult to pin down, making owl masks one second, visiting a flamenco dance class the next, then following around a mumbling homeless guy likely to pull a knife on her at any second. For those searching for a formulaic romantic comedy, the movie will feel schizophrenic, but for those willing to follow Poppy wherever she goes, Leigh provides a rewarding antidote to Hollywood banality. Poppy doesn’t feel like an artist’s creation. She feels like a real person: unpredictable, extremely shrewd, and idiotic.
COMMENTS
Comments will be moderated in accordance with our comment policy