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 In cinemas Thursday [M]
Director: Mike Leigh
Runtime: 129mins.
Whenever word breaks that Mike Leigh has a new film coming out, his fans experience some conflicting emotions. There’s the thrill at the anticipation of facing a challenging cinematic experience for some; for others, like me, there’s also the knowledge that I’m going to have to be in the mood for watching the film – these are always emotionally draining outings. Walking into Another Year, I’d deliberately kept the slate clean so as not to take any preconceptions in with me. As it turned out, that wasn’t necessary – Another Year wasn’t a walk in the park, but it also wasn’t another Naked or Vera Drake, although this new film opens with a dramatically restrained performance that also features Imelda Staunton.
Staunton plays an astonishingly uptight housewife, who can barely contain her anger at her circumstances, and yet cannot acknowledge them to social worker Gerri (Ruth Sheen), who gently recommends seeing a counsellor. That’s the last we see of Staunton, but Leigh sets the scene in terms of scoping Gerri’s work life. Away from work Gerri maintains a quiet marriage with geologist, Tom (Jim Broadbent), in a house that’s oddly bucolic in the insanely busy London. The pair has raised a successful son, and as they approach retirement, enjoy their hours together indulging in good-natured bickering, gardening, and occasionally entertaining guests.
A regular – and not always – welcome dinner guest is Gerri’s co-worker, Mary (Leslie Manville), one of those people who finds it necessary to fill the empty silences that Tom and Gerri don’t mind every now and then, and also desperate to maintain a constant veneer of bravado and cheer in the face of what seems to be an overwhelming melancholy as she enters her autumn years alone. A ray of hope springs in her hosts’ eyes when they realise that another one of their single friends – Ken (Peter Wight) – might be able to kill two birds with one stone, but we all know that attempts at matchmaking are often fraught with disaster.
Leigh has said elsewhere that Another Year is about mortality, but the film is also about ageing gracefully, disgracefully, and unwillingly, with one’s fingernails tearing in pain as they struggle to maintain a grip on a youth that is long-gone. While Sheen and Broadbent offer performances that resonate with dignity and grace, Leslie Manville’s agonising struggle with her own circumstances is really quite superb.
***½
TIM MILFULL
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