Review of Life Is Sweet

Mike Leigh's Life is Sweet is his third feature film and like his previous one (High Hopes) and much of his television work, it sees him exploring issues of class. It does so however in the style of a gentle, character-led comedy, with mixed but generally entertaining results. Life is Sweet follows the lives of a working class North London family, father Andy, mother Wendy, and twin daughters Nicola and Natalie, over a few days. Andy is a chef working in a large restaurant, Wendy works in a shop and teaches dance classes, Natalie is a plumber, and Nicola is unemployed with no particular interest in becoming employed. Leigh developed the screenplay using his usual technique of improvisation with the cast members over several weeks, and each has their own quirks and problems, some of which are implied rather than explicit. This isn't a film about big dramatic events, but rather the small, daily dramas of everyday life, including Nicola's hidden battle with bulimia and - eventually - Andy's broken ankle. Thrown into the mix are sex-obsessed, awkward restaurateur Aubrey, whose approach to his restaurant is a triumph of enthusiasm over talent and taste; Nicola's unnamed lover who visits the house for sex when everybody else is out; Andy's drunken friend Patsy, who convinces Andy to buy a dilapidated burger van; and Aubrey's chef Paula, who inexplicably idolises him. The interaction between the characters drives the film and proves absorbing partly because of a fine cast that includes Leigh's regular collaborator and then-wife Alison Steadman as Wendy and the great Jim Broadbent as Andy. The problem here is that some of the characters are played as caricatures: Timothy Spall's Aubrey never entirely convinces as a real person, and nor do Jane Horrocks' Nicola and Claire Skinner's Natalie. Partly it's because of the self-conscious dialogue they end up with, and partly it is because of their slightly mannered performances. It undermines the gritty realism that is often (somewhat lazily) associated with Mike Leigh and renders the film as a sitcom rather than a comedy-drama. This despite Nicola's distressingly convincing bulimia scene as she stuffs chocolate into her mouth and eventually vomits into a bag, and the scene between Wendy and Nicola towards the end of the film, in which both Steadman and Horrocks give powerful and emotional performances. Nevertheless, whatever flaws Life is Sweet may have, there is much to enjoy here. It's often very funny, and if Aubrey is the least believable character in the film, he at least gets the best lines. There's also a hilarious sex scene when Nicola gets her lover to tie her up and lick chocolate spread off her chest. One of the film's quiet delights is when Andy and Patsy go to the pub and they just sit at the bar drinking and chatting about nothing important, and Broadbent and Rea act convincingly drunk (as indeed does Spall when Aubrey is drunkenly flirting with Wendy after the disastrous restaurant opening). The film is shot entirely on location in Enfield, which benefits the production enormously, and careful selection of props compliments this, from the battered van to the tacky accoutrements of Aubrey's restaurant. Regular Leigh cinematographer Dick Pope makes effective use of close-ups, such as during the barbed discussion about kids and men between the twins, and during the aforementioned bulimia and sex scenes, both of which impressively manage to make the viewer feel uncomfortably voyeuristic. There's also a simple but elegant score from Rachel Portman, which perfectly suits the mood of the film. Perhaps the best thing about Life is Sweet is that despite focusing on its character's trials and tribulations, it ultimately manages to do so in a way that justifies the title: the ending with the family at home together, Andy having broken his ankle thanks to a spoon, Natalie planning a holiday in America, Nicola having reconciled with Wendy, and the twins bonding, is surprisingly heart-warming. This isn't Leigh's greatest film, but it is one of his most delightful.