Just how hard is it to be happy? That’s
the question posed by Mike Leigh’s fresh, funny and
decidedly life-affirming new comedy, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, about
Poppy (Sally Hawkins, winner of the Best Actress Award at
the Berlin Film Festival for the role), a free-spirited
Londoner with an irrepressible zeal for life, a young woman
who always manages to laugh at life’s absurdities. Her
adventures spark a provocative, truthful yet
ultimately winning exploration into just what the difference
is between a leading a cynical life and pursuing an
optimistic one – one in which doom and despair aren’t so
much blocked out as seen through a transforming filter of
unsinkable good cheer.
It all begins with Poppy's afternoon bicycling through the
streets of Central London. She enters a lovely looking
bookshop where she is greeted by a dour, rude salesmen, but
buoyant Poppy refuses to let his glum attitude change her
mood. Then, Poppy returns to the spot where she left her
bike, only to discover that thieves have absconded with it.
but this unexpected turn of events doesn’t bring Poppy down.
Poppy’s whole life seems to be devoted to turning tough
times into flashes of pleasure and inspiration. A 30
year-old single woman living in the lonely city, she makes
the best of it – sharing a flat with her fellow school
teacher, Zoe (Alexis Zegerman), hanging out with her younger
sister Suzy (Kate O’Flynn) and focusing her nights and
weekends on fashion, nightclubs and, most of all, laughing
and drinking with good friends. A teacher in a London
school, she approaches trouble in her classroom with the
same tolerance and compassion that she brings to her
personal life. And at the end of a long, hard day, Poppy
blows off any extra steam she might have built up along the
way by jumping on a trampoline.
Her bike having been stolen, Poppy decides to take driving
lessons. Her instructor, Scott (Eddie Marsan), turns out to
be her nemesis – a fuming cynic who challenges her
cheerfulness as a sign of silly, unrealistic immaturity.
At their very first meeting, Scott indignantly critiques
Poppy’s favorite fancy boots as
ridiculous choice of driving footwear, takes serious offense
at her easy-going chattiness, rants at her about the
corruption of “the system” and tries desperately to get her
to adhere to his rigid rules of teaching and “En-Ra-Ha”
method of staying alert while driving.
By her second lesson, things are only getting worse. The
more Poppy tries to joke and banter with Scott, the more
humourless, paranoid and mad at the world he seems to
become. By her third lesson, Scott’s venom has reached a new
peak, as he accuses Poppy of being arrogant, disruptive and,
worst of all in his view, “celebrating chaos.”
Poppy encounters a fiery flamenco teacher (Karina Fernandez)
who believes in the
power of anger fuelled passion. She visits her bitter,
pregnant sister (Caroline Martin)
who seems to feel personally insulted by Poppy’s
free-spirited, single lifestyle; and she comes across a
homeless man with whom she finds a moment of moonlit
rapport. She also deals sympathetically with a bully in her
classroom. On top of all that Poppy has thrown out her back
(necessitating a comical trip to the osteopath) and goes out
on her first date in ages, with he school’s social worker
(Samuel Roukin). This is a great success.
Meanwhile, the increasingly obsessive Scott takes things to
a whole new level by
stalking Poppy, which will lead to a final confrontation in
which Poppy deals with Scott’s confusion and pain strongly
but sensitively.
Poppy has a natural ability to deal with
life. She steadfastly refuses to let any sense of defeat or
doom win. Instead, her story is a series of small triumphs
of the spirit that slyly defy life’s vexing nature. As
Poppy’s driving lessons come careening to a volatile end,
Poppy’s flatmate Zoe pragmatically remarks: “You can’t make
everybody happy.” Poppy responds with her infectious laugh,
then adds in her typically unshakable way: “No harm in
trying.”
© Miramax Films. All
rights reserved
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