Rent Life is Sweet (1990)

Mike Leigh gets darker - beautiful film - Life is Sweet review by CP Customer

This sees Mike Leigh delving a little deeper and a little darker than in some of his earlier films. The subject matter is loosely the same, a dysfunctional family living on the bread-line, with well drawn divisions between the characters. Lots of heart-aching and lots of laughter, this is a beautiful if uncomfortable modern-day saga. It is not a film that anyone should regret seeing.

saccharine - Life is Sweet review by JD

The beauty of this film is the characterisations. Some are quite bazaar but utterly convincing. The gentle interactions and reactions. The problem is that the plot rambles on never really in any way gripping and pulling the senses.

On Yer Bike. - Life is Sweet review by Steve

This bittersweet tale of North London life from Mike Leigh is a contemporary satire of conservative small business values; the sort of acute observation on the state of the nation which is typical of his films. But it's the depiction of an ordinary working class family who are just about getting-by, which makes a profound emotional connection.

Jim Broadbent is the comical dad, the sort of bloke who got on his bike, and never gave up, but isn't cut out to be an entrepreneur. He has two teenage daughters, with Clare Skinner as a plumber who looks to America for cultural inspiration, while Jane Horrocks plays a secret bulimic, who repeats leftwing soundbites like a talking doll.

The heart of the story- and its hero- is Alison Steadman as the wife/mother who keeps them together with mustn’t grumble make-do and untutored eloquence which no one will ever acknowledge or monetise because they occur within the home. The impression of unspoken anxiety as her children become independent adults is pitiful.

The minor characters, like Timothy Spall as an idiotic restauranteur, are too much like caricatures in a sketch show. But Steadman is inspirational. The scene in which she tries to motivate her depressed daughter with reminiscences from early marriage, is a heartbreaker. It's uneven, but this is Leigh's arrival as a major British film maker.