The title of this film can either be positive or negative depending on the character you're seeing the film through. For the couple who hosts the get-togethers the film revolves around another year represents another year of joy and landmark events to add to their memories. For their single middle-aged friends another year is JUST another year.
Tom (Jim Broadbent, MOULIN ROUGE) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen, ALL OR NOTHING) have been happily married for decades. They tend a small community garden together and throw little get-togethers with their friends and family. Mary (Lesley Manville, SECRETS & LIES) is Gerri's friend from work; a desperately single woman who drinks to forget. Her life is a mess. Ken (Peter Wight, BABEL) is Tom's friend from his youth; a desperately single man who drinks to forget. His mess of a life makes Mary's life look stable. He's the kind of good hearted guy who could make a woman very happy, but can never get his foot in the door because he's fat, drunk and a slob.
Mary emerges as the central character. Her life is a collection of bad choices. During the course of the film she buys a car and when is asked about it knows it's red at least. At one party she awkwardly flirts with Tom and Gerri's adult son Joe (Oliver Maltman, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY). She's known him since he was child and he humors her with a slight grin. But when he brings home his new outgoing girlfriend Katie (Karina Fernandez, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY), Mary's chipper demeanor develops a bite.
Manville is sensational. She creates unique ticks in the character from the way she speaks to the way she acts. Her false optimism fades over the course of the year. She's becoming more aware that time keeps moving and she is stuck in the same place as the year before. Watch how she subtly drops her happy-go-lucky attitude and her bitterness over continued disappointments grows. All along her desperateness gets more pathetic.
It's particularly interesting how she interacts with Ken. She doesn't hide her disgust with him. She looks at him like others might look at her; as a sad drunk. If they weren't both such a mess they would be perfect for each other.
While the film moves from spring to winter for Mary, the story is not without humor. Broadbent’s expressions to Gerri regarding Mary are hilarious. He often regards Mary’s over-the-top behavior with sly grins and eye rolls. Gerri, who is a counselor, finds it less humorous over time, especially when it negatively affects her family. When Tom’s brother Ronnie (David Bradley, HARRY POTTER) comes to stay with them, Mary can’t help but be Mary even though he just lost his wife.
There is an unconnected prologue to the story where Gerri meets with a deeply depressed woman Janet, played wonderfully by Oscar-nominated Imelda Staunton. It sets the tone on where the film is going. Janet has no desire to deal with her problems; she just wants to paint over them with a prescription. She has no joy in her life. She’s where Mary could be in a few years. At the end, Tom, Gerri and Joe recount happy memories. Poignantly, director Mike Leigh makes this both a joyous and sad moment. Like I said, it depends on whose eyes you’re seeing it through.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
