After the relative cheeriness of Happy-Go-Lucky, director Leigh returns to an examination of less hopeful aspects of society. Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen play Tom and Gerri (really!), a contented middle-aged couple who have achieved a cosy tranquillity to which their careers, family life, holidays and allotment hobby all contribute. However, their very warmth and happiness seem to encourage some emotionally far less successful characters to cling to them and the contrast between the suburban bliss of Tom and Gerri and the wrecked lives of their friends is almost painfully acute.
15 cert – 2010 – Dir: Mike Leigh – 129 mins – lang: English
Cast: Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen, Lesley Manville