Life Is Sweet [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Mike Leigh Mike Leigh

Overview

Mike Leigh's situation comedy about a lower middle-class family in the London suburbs is a slice-of-life chronicle that subtly reveals the pain and rage underneath the surface of day-to-day conventions. The youngish parents, Wendy (Alison Steadman) and Andy (Jim Broadbent) live with their 20-something twin daughters, Nicola (Jane Horrocks) and Natalie (Claire Skinner). Natalie, a plumber's assistant, is clean-cut and forever looks on the bright side of life. Nicola, who is unemployed, has nothing but contempt for conventionality. As the daughters deal with the obsessively sunny Wendy and the lackadaisical Andy, and confront a succession of ne'er-do-well friends and neighbors, a darker picture is painted of this normal family -- particularly Nicola, who is convinced she is fat and ugly (despite her emaciated appearance), with Natalie being a constant rebuke to her.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/28/2013
UPC:	0715515105613
Original Release:	1990
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Language:	English
Time:	1:43:00
Sales rank:	1,237

Special Features

New restored 2K digital film transfer, supervised by director of photography Dick Pope, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD master audio soundtrack; New audio commentary featuring director Mike Leigh; Audio recording of a 1991 interview with Leigh at the National Film Theatre in London; Five short films written and directed by Leigh for the proposed television series Five-Minute Films, with a new audio introduction by Leigh; Plus: a booklet featuring an essay by critic David Sterritt

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Alison Steadman	Wendy
Jim Broadbent	Andy
Claire Skinner	Natalie
Timothy Spall	Aubrey
Jane Horrocks	Nicola
David Thewlis	Nicola's Lover
Moya Brady	Paula
Stephen Rea	Patsy
David Neilson	Steve
Jack Thorpe Baker	Nigel
Harriet Thorpe	Customer
Paul Trussel	Chef
Rachel Portman	Composer

Technical Credits

Mike Leigh

Mike Leigh	Director,Screenwriter
Simon Channing-Williams	Producer

Editorial Reviews

"Devised and directed" by Mike Leigh, Life is Sweet (1991) concentrates on the small epiphanies, humorous eccentricities, and poignant failures that mark an oddball working-class family's quotidian existence in a London suburb. Working with extensive rehearsals and improvisations rather than a pre-prepared screenplay, Leigh and his cast focus on telling details of behavior and dialogue, revealing the full complexity of the relationships through the haphazard rhythms of daily life. Leigh's simple visual style emphasizes the nuances of the central performances, allowing the characters to be more than just the caricatures they may initially appear to be. Despite the moments of despair, the comic interludes and final moments of quiet reconciliation suggest that the title means what it says without irony. TV and theater director Leigh's second feature after a seventeen year hiatus from the movies, Life Is Sweet bolstered the cinematic reputation reestablished by 1988's High Hopes, with Jane Horrocks earning the Los Angeles Film Critics' Circle prize for Best Supporting Actress.

All Movie Guide - Lucia Bozzola