British Pages Magazine › British TV & Movies

Friday British Film Pick - Happy Go Lucky

Posted by

– •

Happy-Go-Lucky is a 2008 British comedy film, directed by Mike Leigh. The film was made in 2007 and released on 18 April 2008.

Set in contemporary London, the film focuses on the character of Pauline Cross, who goes by the nickname, "Poppy". Poppy is an irrepressibly cheerful primary school teacher, thirty years old, single, and infinitely optimistic and accepting. She shares a flat with her best friend Zoe in Finsbury Park. The film presents various situations that test Poppy's inherent optimism.

Buy the movie now from Amazon.com: Happy-Go-Lucky

For film sypnosis and spoilers read on...

The film begins with Poppy's bike ride and visit to a bookstore, where she unsuccessfully tries to chat up the bookstore employee. When she returns to where she left her bicycle, it is missing. Zoe, Poppy and one of her sisters who is reading sociology at university then go out clubbing one evening.
Instead of replacing the bike, Poppy decides to take driving lessons for the first time in her life. Her driving instructor, Scott, is emotionally repressed, with anger problems and given to conspiracy theories, racism and misogyny. Her optimistic personality grates on Scott initially, but as the lessons progress, he develops an attraction towards her, which she does not return.

One scene shows Poppy teaching her students to make bird masks. With another teacher, Poppy takes flamenco lessons. Her other leisure-time activities include a trampoline class, which leads to back problems and a treatment by an osteopath. On one evening, on her way home from a walk, Poppy encounters a homeless man.

At school, one of Poppy's pupils is seen bullying his classmates. Tim, a social worker is brought in to handle the boy's case, and Poppy then learns that the boy's mother's boyfriend also beats him. After working on this case, Tim and Poppy begin dating.

Poppy and her sister visit their other sister, who lives with her husband in Southend-on-Sea and is pregnant. All three get into an argument about their respective life situations. Back in London, Poppy sees Scott standing across the street from her flat, but he runs away before she can say speak with him.
In the final driving lesson, Scott violently expresses his jealousy of Poppy being in a relationship with Tim, and in so doing indirectly expresses his feelings for her. Poppy realises the danger of the situation and tries, unsuccessfully, to reason with him. After he calms down, Poppy decides to end the lessons there.
The film ends with Poppy and Zoe rowing a boat in Regent's Park, as Poppy takes a mobile phone call from Tim and Zoe advises Poppy to think about "giving up being nice to everyone". Poppy dismisses the advice, cheerfully but not naively.