It’s rare that I watch a movie and have it affect my mood the next day. But after seeing Happy-Go-Lucky, I felt encouraged to behave more like Poppy Cross, the film’s main character. She’s always laughing and keeping bad days in perspective. She sounds like a bomb about to explode, right? Nope. Poppy charmed the heck out of me and I found her hilariously perplexing.
Happy-Go-Lucky is a series of peeks into the life of Poppy (Sally Hawkins), a kooky 30-year-old first grade teacher who lives in a North London apartment with her long-time best friend and fellow teacher Zoe (Alexis Zegerman). Poppy is one of life’s anomalies, possessing a fulfilling life where fun and responsibility are sometimes interchangeable. One night she’s a club girl hanging out with Zoe, and her younger sister Suzy. The following morning she’s wearing a paper bag mask and flapping around her classroom with her students. Poppy is also one of those people who never stops telling jokes. Even when getting her back straightened by a chiropractor, she’s giddy. She’s not delusional; she’s just trying to keep her spirits up.
Poppy runs into plenty of bad situations too. She has a troubled student. She also takes weekly driving lessons from an angry teacher named Scott (Eddie Marsan) whom she reads like a laser beam. Paranoid about rules, no social skills and no sense of humor, Scott paints a contrasting picture of unhappiness. Poppy’s personality grows more complex and more desirable as we watch. The scenes, occurring inside a cramped Ford Focus, are both funny and sad.
I have proof that England holds back its best actors for its own films. My evidence is Sally Hawkins. She plays Poppy with the right mixture of bubbliness and thoughtfulness. Additionally, Hawkins possesses one of those irrepressible faces where every little thought has a mind of its own. If she were working in the 1920s, she might have made a good silent film actress. Casting overall is amazing even in small roles.
Happy-Go-Lucky doesn’t stick to how stories are usually told, which is an interesting change. This the first Mike Leigh film I’ve seen. He dreams up a different experience than Hollywood finds in its reusable bag of tricks. He starts with no script. That alone is enough to give your average financier a coronary. Characters and scenes are shaped through improvisation. When you watch the completed movie, you see characters living their lives. Even a bit of an exaggeration like Poppy fits right in.
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