Get the latest gossip
A Guide to the Films of Mike Leigh, From Tragic to Comic
We chart Leigh’s films as the director views life itself: on a range from pure tragedy to pure comedy, and everything in between.
The average moviegoer probably knows plenty of Leigh’s stable of regulars — Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville, Timothy Spall, and Imelda Staunton, to name a few — from their bigger films, but not the man who has brought these performers together in myriad roles and combinations across 50 years. Leigh’s directorial debut — adapted from his stage play of the same name — tells the story of Sylvia (Anne Raitt), a young secretary living with her sister Hilda (Sarah Stevenson) who is disabled and requires involved care. The bulk of the comedy in the film stems from yet another one of Leigh’s ridiculous portrayals of the upper class: the posh couple who live next to Cyril’s mother, the hilariously named “Laetitia and Rupert Boothe-Brain,” give loud representation to the types of people who ruin a neighborhood overnight.
Or read this on VULTURE
