Review of Life Is Sweet (1991) by Gregory G — 28 May 2014

This third feature film from writer-director Mike Leigh is one of his best. It's a slice-of-life, comedy-drama about a working-class British family during Thatcherism. Leigh's method involves extensive, improvisational rehearsals with the actors, which is shaped into a final script that is filmed.

The result is a funny, poignant view of the daily struggles and misapplied hopes of the laboring class. Jim Broadbent is an ineffectual chef, who purchases a mobile fast-food van; Alison Steadman is his cheerful, voluble, steadfast wife, employed in retail and as a children's dance instructor.

They have twin daughters, played by Claire Skinner and Jane Horrocks, who are polar opposites. Hiding behind thick red hair and glasses, with her mouth perpetually curled up, Horrocks is especially affecting as the self-loathing, bulimic daughter.

There is a confrontation between mother and daughter that is simply lyrical in emotional frankness. Leigh's filmmaking is unadorned and there is a subtle undercurrent of political reproach that is effective.

The superb cast includes Timothy Spall, Stephen Rea, and David Thewlis. Fine music score is by Rachel Portman.