English writer-director Mike Leigh has a very sharp eye for the foibles of his countrymen, their manners and morals, their attitudes. “Another Year,” which opens today features a pair of interesting people, acted brilliantly by Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen as Tom and Gerri (the writer’s little joke?). They are in their 60s, quite successful, he a geological engineer (“it means I dig holes,” he admits), she a therapist. They’re in good health, in great spirits, and looking forward to whatever adventures come next.
In contrast, their friends, and her clients, are a mess of unhappy people. I wonder if Leigh created them to make Tom and Gerri look heroic by comparison, or if this is how he sees the stratification of English society. And I also wonder about the ethics of Gerri, in the business of helping people,urging alcohol on those who already have problems in that area.
It’s an interesting, slow-paced movie in four chapters, one for each season, and splendid acting from all hands. Their grown son, Joe (Oliver Maltman), is excellent as a man trying to fend off an offer of love from Mom’s co-worker, Mary (Lesley Manville), a very frequent visitor who does not understand, or refuses to accept, rejection. When Joe shows up with a real-life fiancee, Mary is truly shocked that Joe has chosen someone else, a newcomer a lot closer to him in age. Mary’s attitude of real sexual jealousy is fascinating, and powerful, and almost shocking.
And there’s Janet, Gerri’s client, whose life is a complete opposite. Imelda Staunton, who was the star in Leigh’s “Vera Drake,” is in a deeper slough of despond than anything John Buchan described in “Pilgrim’s Progress.”
It’s always a pleasure to watch Broadbent. The man is so calm, so mature, a perfect father figure. But after a year in the company of these people, it’s easy to feel that very little has happened..
Another Year opens today at the Plaza Frontenac
—Joe