High Hopes (1988 film)
High Hopes is a 1988 film directed by Mike Leigh, focusing on an extended working-class family living in King's Cross, London, and elsewhere.
| High Hopes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Mike Leigh |
| Produced by | Victor Glynn Simon Channing-Williams |
| Written by | Mike Leigh |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Andrew Dickson |
| Cinematography | Roger Pratt |
| Edited by | Jon Gregory |
| Distributed by | Skouras Films (USA) |
Release date | 24 September 1988 |
Running time | 112 min |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £1.28 million[1] |
| Box office | $1.1 million[2] |
The film primarily examines Cyril (Philip Davis) and Shirley (Ruth Sheen), a motor-cycle courier and his girlfriend, along with their friends, neighbours, and Cyril's mother and sister.
Despite staying true to Leigh's down-at-the-heel, realist style, the film is ultimately a social comedy concerning culture clashes between different classes and belief systems. According to the critic Michael Coveney', "As in Meantime, High Hopes contrasts the economic and spiritual conditions of siblings. And in developing some of the themes in Babies Grow Old and Grown-Ups, it presents a brilliantly organised dramatic résumé of attitudes towards parturition and old age."[3]
Plot
Cyril is a strong, old-style socialist, who despairs of his elderly working-class but Tory-voting mum; her new yuppie neighbours, the Boothe-Braines (who have purchased what was once a council house next door); and his social-climbing sister and her crass, car-salesman husband. Cyril and Shirley are portrayed as the most decent characters in the film, despite Cyril's irascible nature. Theirs is a strong relationship, marred by Cyril's reluctance to have children and his resentment that his cause is destined to be on the losing side in history.
Cast
- Phil Davis as Cyril
- Ruth Sheen as Shirley
- Edna Doré as Mrs Bender
- Philip Jackson as Martin
- Heather Tobias as Valerie
- Lesley Manville as Lætitia
- David Bamber as Rupert
- Jason Watkins as Wayne
- Judith Scott as Suzi
Box office
The film made £245,549 in the UK.[1]
Awards and nominations
- European Film Awards
- Won: Best Actress – Leading Role (Ruth Sheen)
- Won: Best Composer (Andrew Dickson)
- Won: Best Supporting Performance (Edna Doré)
- Nominated: Best Film
- Independent Spirit Awards (USA)
- Nominated: Best Foreign Film
- Venice Film Festival (Italy)
- Won: FIPRESCI Prize (Mike Leigh)
References
- "Back to the Future: The Fall and Rise of the British Film Industry in the 1980s - An Information Briefing" (PDF). British Film Institute. 2005. p. 24.
- "High Hopes (1989) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com.
- Michael Coveney, The World according to Mike Leigh p.189