Another year

[Howard Schumann]

ANOTHER YEAR

Directed by Mike Leigh, U.K, ( 2010), 129 minutes

Unlike most Hollywood films that mainly depict the lives of quirky young, well-to-do suburbanites, Mike Leigh's Another Year, shows a mature, apparently well-matched, and devoted couple that has been together for 35 years and their efforts to offer solace to their not so fortunate friends. The film is divided into four segments, each describing one of the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Leigh’s Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen) show begins when Gerri, a medical counselor, attempts to minister to Janet, a sleep-deprived, depressed older woman (Imelda Staunton) without any emotional response.

“On a scale of 1 to 10”, she asks the patient, “How would you rate your happiness?” The answer not surprisingly is a “One”, but Janet refuses to discuss her personal life any further and Gerri is left in a state of frustration. Though we never see Janet again, this episode sets the gloom scale for the entire film as moderate to high. Another Year tests our tolerance of unsympathetic characters to the limit. Normally, those in a healthy relationship want to surround themselves with others that reflect their own space, but the fact that Tom and Gerri do not is either a jarring incongruity, or belies the fact that they have everything so together.

Gerri’s husband Tom is a 60-something Geological Engineer and, contrary to the popular Hollywood notion that all families are dysfunctional, his relationship with his wife seems to work. They actually talk to each other, make jokes, tend to their garden where they grow organic food, and communicate well with their only child, Joe (Oliver Maltman), an unmarried 30-year-old attorney who works with poor people. Tom and Gerri entertain quite often and one of their regular visitors is Mary who is performed by Leslie Manville as almost a caricature of a neurotic. Mary is a woman of about fifty years of age who works in Gerri’s office as a receptionist. She is divorced and dresses in a provocative way to appear younger than she is in order to attract men.

Though she seems at first like a bundle of energy talking about how content she is and how much she values her independence, with the passing of each season, it becomes clearer that she is a very lonely and depressed alcoholic who is in desperate need of companionship, and her woes gradually take over the film. The parade of sad loners continues when the Tom and Gerri bring Ken (Peter Wight), an old friend of Tom’s to stay with them for a short visit. Ken is single, overweight and has a drinking problem reflected on the T-shirt he wears to their home “Less Thinking, More Drinking”, a slogan that might be used as a metaphor for the entire film.

Ken is unable to find a partner to be with and, like Mary, is full of debilitating self pity and a negative self image. Ken makes an effort to interest Mary in himself, but she pushes him away, though she has no qualms about flirting with Joe even though he is dating Katie (Karina Fernandez), a bubbly Occupational Therapist. Without subtlety or nuance, Mary jealously gives Katie dirty looks and treats her rudely. Like many people who believe that happiness lies in accumulating things, Mary buys a used car and this makes her happy, at least for a few days, until the car acts up, she gets lost a few times, and collects parking tickets.

Things go downhill from there when the wife of Tom’s uncommunicative brother Ronnie (David Bradley) dies suddenly. At the family gathering afterward, Mary drops in without phoning first and sadly seeks a relationship with the distraught and uncommunicative Ronnie and the mood of the film turns from bearably dark to unbearably darker. On the surface, Tom and Gerri show their caring by wanting to be there for their friends and give them someone to lean on; however, it is all on a very superficial level, one that never threatens their comfort zone and it never dawns on them that some tough love may be required.

Neither Gerri nor Tom is willing to confront their friends by reminding them that they have the ability to transform their life if they would only wake up to their own strengths and end their self pitying act before it is too late. The only help Gerri suggests is for Mary to “try a culture holiday” for a change of pace. Neither attempt to put any limits on their friends’ drinking habits, always offering them just “one more” and incongruously allowing Mary to drive Ken and her only son to the train station after she has had a few drinks. Another Year is an energy drainer, a “feel bad” bleak fest almost from start to finish with only a few moments of comic relief. The only real joy I felt was in finally seeing the end credits roll.

GRADE: C

For a more positive review by Chris Knipp click here

[Howard Schumann]

Practically any review is more positive than mine. Though you may have some reservations about the structure, yours definitely fits the bill, especially when you use words such as "wise humanity" to describe the film - that is pretty positive. Unfortunately I didn't see any wise humanity at work here.

I do not consider my discussion of the characters as being "judgmental". That implies that they are bad and wrong. This is not the case. Pointing out to someone that they have a self-defeating act and they need to get off it is not standing in judgment of them. It is coming from a recognition that their actions are hiding their true strength and beauty from the world. So when I talk about whining and self pity, it is not coming from judging them and finding them wanting but from supporting them to be the person that they are capable of being.

[oscar jubis]

I think ANOTHER YEAR is a very good film. I hope people reading this thread won't be dissuaded by Howard's review. But I would agree, Howard, that this film is quite a chore to sit through if you find the characters "unsympathetic". I did not. Not at all. I assume your last post is a reply to one that was deleted...I'll venture to say that whether or not characters appeal to a viewer is not a proper issue for debate because it is something too dependent on one's own subjectivity and life experience. It is not something subject to the laws of logic and reason.

[Howard Schumann]

I think ANOTHER YEAR is a very good film. I hope people reading this thread won't be dissuaded by Howard's review. But I would agree, Howard, that this film is quite a chore to sit through if you find the characters "unsympathetic". I did not. Not at all. I assume your last post is a reply to one that was deleted...I'll venture to say that whether or not characters appeal to a viewer is not a proper issue for debate because it is something too dependent on one's own subjectivity and life experience. It is not something subject to the laws of logic and reason.

My problem with the film is not with the characters. I can relate to unsympathetic characters simply because we share a common humanity. For example, in his great film Au hazard Balthazar, Robert Bresson confronts us with people and situations that cause us to pull away, yet in the same breath, he shows that universal love can exist side by side with the pain. Faced with the indication that the universe is purposeless, Bresson challenges us to go beyond despair and be open to the possibility of purity, innocence, and grace. That is what is missing for me in Another Year, a sense that beyond the darkness of our circumstances, there is beauty and mystery and joy.

[Chris Knipp]

I'll venture to say that whether or not characters appeal to a viewer is not a proper issue for debate because it is something too dependent on one's own subjectivity and life experience. It is not something subject to the laws of logic and reason.

I think you can debate characters like any other aspect. It's dangerous to law down laws about what is or isn't a proper issue for debate. Discussions of art are not matters restricted to "logic and reason."

On the other hand, whether I like his characters or not, and that varies, I don't find Leigh's movies hard to watch. They're enjoyable because they're well-oiled machines and the actors have honed their skills. My growing trouble with Leigh is a feeling that his system is too deterministic. The main couple in ANOTHER YEAR is fulfilled, their lives and their marriage are happy, period. The others are losers, period. It's better when he focuses on something other than "life" or "happiness" -- TOPSY TURVY, VERA DRAKE. The focus on the happy-unhappy, winner-loser setups is great in his last two, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY and ANOTHER YEAR. I've noticed in Q&As Leigh himself seems rather dogmatic lately. You will find in people who had problems with ANOTHER YEAR that they use words like "schematic" or "deterministic." We are told what to think about characters here, what to think of them. Karina Longworth (Village Voice):

I haven't seen a film this year that so openly invited me to revile each and every one of its characters-and I reviewed "The Human Centipede."

I don't mind everything set up like clockwork in a noir crime story like Alain Corneau's new LOVE CRIME, which I reviewed as part of the Rendez-Vous series yesterday. But when it's a question of everyday people and their success as human beings is the implied topic, I balk at having things pre-set from the start. And come to think of it, though Kristin Scott Thomas' character in LOVE CRIME is an evil vagina dentata destroyer, she is also incredibly beautiful, elegant, and attractive.

As Oscar says, ANOTHER YEAR is indeed definitely "a very good film." All his films are "very good." Leigh is a very strong director, his work exemplifies the excellence of English actors, and should be seen by anyone who cares about film. But in his recent films I've noticed this deterministic quality that makes me balk at putting them among the year's best. And yet they are indeed "very good."