Life Is Sweet
(1990)
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Director Mike Leigh escapes the confines of direct-to-television films with this incredibly bittersweet slice-of-life comedy about a blue-collar family living in modern-day England. Wendy (Alison Steadman) and Andy (Jim Broadbent) are a good-natured couple with two daughters, Nicola (Jane Horrocks) and Natalie (Claire Skinner). As different as two sisters could possibly be, Natalie is jovial and optimistic, while Nicola is a discontented cynic with contempt for everything she encounters. When Andy breaks his foot and strikes upon the idea to buy a hot dog van, Wendy is reminded of what she loves--and loathes--about her husband. Gradually, Nicola is revealed to have a potentially dangerous eating disorder, and by the time tensions between the sisters erupt, Wendy must gather all her strength to keep the family together. |
Writer/director Mike Leigh is on top form in this superbly observed satire on late-Thatcherite Britain. The wincingly funny and socially astute script touches on such issues as bulimia, free enterprise and social ambition without ever labouring the point. Alison Steadman and Jim Broadbent are outstanding as the thoroughly decent working-class couple who watch their daughters develop with a mixture of pride and regret. Jane Horrocks does Essex slacker teen with great conviction, while Claire Skinner impresses as her tomboy sister, and Timothy Spall is sweatily repellent as a wannabe restaurateur. Naked and Secrets and Lies won the prizes, but this is perhaps Leigh's finest work.