Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)

Mike Leigh’s new one (after Secrets & Lies and Vera Drake, both wonderful and memorable character pieces) is about Poppy, a relentlessly cheerful woman who learns to drive. And that’s about it. It’s marvellous.
There’s a lot of ground covered in H-G-L, but I’m most interested in how the film explores learning. The theme of how our social interactions shape us. Using the device of formal education of different sorts, it highlights the hidden lessons that exist all around us and that shape us from early childhood onwards.
This is obliquely explored through different kinds of talk. Poppy’s responses to life are fascinating for their incoherence – she contradicts herself repeatedly, and it’s clear that what she says isn’t representative of any inner set of beliefs, but is entirely strategic to build positive relationships. Her counterpoint, Scott the driving instructor, is similar in how what he says doesn’t relay any deeper truth – but in his case, it’s because his talk is founded in self-deception.
There’s a scene in the middle that has not been well-received in reviews, a lengthy sequence where Poppy interacts with a derelict. I loved that sequence, for its sustained tension and its avoidance of clear meaning, and for showing how Poppy’s talk works even when all obvious meaning is stripped away. It’s a brave scene, that exasperates the viewer as much as it should enchant and unnerve – and it’s at the midpoint of the film for a good reason.
See it sometime. No big-screen needed, at all; wait for DVD with impunity. But if you want a change of pace after some big-budget popcorn flicks, this is worth checking out.