''Another Year'' is a 2010 British
comedy-drama film written and directed by
Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English film and theatre director, screenwriter and playwright. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and further at the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Design ...
and starring
Lesley Manville
Lesley Ann Manville (born 12 March 1956) is an English actress known for her frequent collaborations with Mike Leigh, appearing in the films '' Grown-Ups'' (1980), '' High Hopes'' (1988), '' Secrets & Lies'' (1996), ''Topsy-Turvy'' (1999), ''A ...
,
Jim Broadbent, and
Ruth Sheen
Ruth Sheen is an English actress. From the late 1980s, she has appeared in British television shows, films and plays. A participant in the films of Mike Leigh, she won the European Film Award for Best Actress for her performance as Shirley in Leigh ...
. It
premiered
A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition.
A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...
at the
2010 Cannes Film Festival in competition for the
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
. It was shown at the 54th
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and sho ...
before its general British release on 5 November 2010. At the
83rd Academy Awards, Mike Leigh was nominated for an
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
* Oscar (Irish mythology) ...
for
Best Original Screenplay
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...
.
Plot
Tom Hepple, a geologist, and Gerri Hepple, a counsellor, are an older married couple who have a comfortable, loving relationship. The film observes them over the course of the four seasons of a year, surrounded by family and friends who mostly suffer some degree of unhappiness.
Gerri's friend and colleague, Mary, works as a receptionist at the health centre. She is a middle-aged divorcee seeking a new relationship, and despite telling everyone she is happy, appears desperate and depressed, and seems to drink too much. The Hepples' only child, Joe, is 30 and unmarried and works as a solicitor giving advice on housing.
In the summer, the Hepples are visited by Ken, Tom's old friend from his student days. Ken is overweight, eats, smokes and drinks compulsively and seems very unhappy. Tom and Gerri host a barbecue in his honour. Mary drives her newly bought car to the party, but gets lost and arrives late. Having had some wine, she flirts with Joe, whom she has known since he was little. He remains friendly but does not reciprocate. After the party, Mary reluctantly gives Ken a lift to the train station. He makes a clumsy romantic advance and Mary irritably rejects him.
Months later, in the autumn, Mary is once again at Tom and Gerri's home. Joe arrives with Katie, a new girlfriend. Mary appears rude and hostile towards Katie, which Tom and Gerri don't appreciate, creating a rift between Gerri and Mary.
In the winter, Tom, Gerri, and Joe attend the funeral for the wife of Tom's brother Ronnie. Towards the end of the service, Ronnie's estranged son Carl arrives, and angrily asks why the ceremony was not delayed for him. At the reception at Ronnie's house, Carl becomes aggressive and walks out. Tom and Gerri invite Ronnie back to London to stay with them for a while and Ronnie agrees.
While Tom and Gerri are at their garden allotment, Mary arrives unannounced at their home and persuades Ronnie to let her in. Her car has just been wrecked and she is upset. They have a cup of tea and a desultory chat before Mary takes a nap on the settee. When Tom and Gerri return, they are unhappy to find Mary there. Gerri explains to Mary that she feels let down by her earlier behaviour towards Katie. Mary apologises and weeps. Gerri gradually extends a degree of warmth to Mary, suggesting she should seek counseling and inviting her to stay for dinner, and the two women set the table. Joe and Katie arrive, their relationship still appearing strong and happy. The Hepples enjoy dinner together. Mary eats with them but appears lost and uncertain.
Cast
*
Jim Broadbent as Tom Hepple
*
Ruth Sheen
Ruth Sheen is an English actress. From the late 1980s, she has appeared in British television shows, films and plays. A participant in the films of Mike Leigh, she won the European Film Award for Best Actress for her performance as Shirley in Leigh ...
as Gerri Hepple
*
Lesley Manville
Lesley Ann Manville (born 12 March 1956) is an English actress known for her frequent collaborations with Mike Leigh, appearing in the films '' Grown-Ups'' (1980), '' High Hopes'' (1988), '' Secrets & Lies'' (1996), ''Topsy-Turvy'' (1999), ''A ...
as Mary Smith
*
Peter Wight as Ken
*
Oliver Maltman
Oliver Maltman is an English actor notable for his appearances in the TV series ''Star Stories'', ''The Kevin Bishop Show'', '' No Heroics'' and '' Clone''. He has also appeared in Mike Leigh's films '' Happy-Go-Lucky'' in 2008, '' Another Year ...
as Joe Hepple
*
David Bradley as Ronnie Hepple
*
Karina Fernandez
Karina Fernandez is a British actress. She is best known for her performances in three of Mike Leigh's films – '' Another Year'' and '' Happy-Go-Lucky'' and '' Mr. Turner''. Fernandez graduated from Drama Centre London. She is an instructor at ...
as Katie
*
Martin Savage
, birth_date = 12 October 1897
, death_date = 19 December 1919
, birth_place= Ballisodare, County Sligo, Ireland
, death_place= Ashtown, County Dublin, Ireland
, image=Martin savage.jpg
, caption=
, nickname=
, allegiance= Irish Republican ...
as Carl Hepple
*
Michele Austin as Tanya
*
Philip Davis as Jack
*
Stuart McQuarrie
Stuart McQuarrie (born 19 March 1963) is a Scottish actor who has starred in several acclaimed films, including '' Trainspotting'' and ''28 Days Later''. Besides numerous film and TV appearances McQuarrie has performed extensively in theatre th ...
as Tom's colleague
*
Imelda Staunton as Janet
Production
Because the director's usual producer
Simon Channing-Williams died in 2009, ''Another Year'' was produced by
Georgina Lowe
Georgina Lowe is a British film and television producer, who has produced director Mike Leigh's films since 2009.
Among her TV Producer credits are the BBC miniseries ''Tipping the Velvet'' (2002), '' Fingersmith'' (2005), the ITV1 series ''Kin ...
, who had worked regularly on
Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English film and theatre director, screenwriter and playwright. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and further at the Camberwell School of Art, the Central School of Art and Design ...
films since ''
Naked
Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing.
The loss of body hair was one of the physical characteristics that marked the biological evolution of modern humans from their hominin ancestors. Adaptations related to h ...
'' (1993). Thin Man Films led the production together with television channel
Film4
Film4 is a British free-to-air television network owned by Channel Four Television Corporation launched on 1 November 1998, devoted to broadcasting films. While its standard-definition channel is available on Freeview and Freesat platforms, i ...
and
Focus Features International. The project received £1.2 million from the
UK Film Council
The UK Film Council (UKFC) was a non-departmental public body set up in 2000 to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee, owned by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and ...
. The production involved a budget of around US$8 million, which Leigh said was "the lowest budget I've had for a long time".
Most of ''Another Year''s key cast members had already worked with the director multiple times. Leigh collaborated with the actors for five months to create their characters and world and to do research. The director employed his usual technique: the actors improvise extensively during rehearsals, and the result of those improvisations becomes the basis of the final script. Principal photography took 12 weeks. To simulate the four seasons of a year, cinematographer
Dick Pope used four different
film stocks, and much attention was paid to details in the props so that the passage of time would appear believable.
The location used for Tom and Gerri Hepple's house is St Margaret's Road,
Wanstead, East London.
Reception
''Another Year'' has a score of 80/100 on
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
based on 35 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 93% based on 174 reviews, with an average rating of 8.16/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Characterized by strong performances and the director's trademark feel for the nuances of everyday life, ''Another Year'' marks another solid entry in Mike Leigh's career of kitchen-sink English drama." The film debuted at the
2010 Cannes Film Festival in competition for the
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
and although it failed to receive any prizes, it was highly praised by critics, scoring a 3.4/4 average at
Screen International's annual Cannes Jury Grid, which polls international film critics from publications such as ''
Sight & Sound
''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...
'', ''
Positif'', ''
L'Unità
''l'Unità'' (, lit. 'the Unity') was an Italian language, Italian newspaper, founded as the official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1924. It was supportive of that party's successor parties, the Democratic Party of the Left, ...
'' and ''
Der Tagesspiegel
''Der Tagesspiegel'' (meaning ''The Daily Mirror'') is a German daily newspaper. It has regional correspondent offices in Washington D.C. and Potsdam. It is the only major newspaper in the capital to have increased its circulation, now 148,000, ...
''.
Wendy Ide of ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' described the film as "Leigh at his confident best" and "a disarmingly humane work", writing, "Mike Leigh shows admirable restraint: there are no manufactured crescendos, just a melancholy refrain that builds to its raw realisation in an achingly sad final shot." Xan Brooks of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' described ''Another Year'' as "a rare treat", and Geoffrey Macnab of ''
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
'' described the film as "an acutely well-observed study of needy and unhappy people desperately trying to make sense of their lives."
Keith Uhlich of ''
Time Out New York
''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide.
In 2012, the London edition becam ...
'' named ''Another Year'' the eighth-best film of 2010.
Accolades
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Another Year
2010 films
2010 comedy-drama films
British comedy-drama films
2010s English-language films
Films directed by Mike Leigh
Films about alcoholism
Films shot in London
British independent films
Film4 Productions films
Focus Features films
Sony Pictures Classics films
2010 independent films
2010s British films