Isn't it, just?

Happy-Go-Lucky

Crit

Wow: just read the Netflix summary while I was copying the link: "Poppy (Sally Hawkins) is a perpetually cheerful 30-year-old London teacher. When her beloved bike is stolen, she decides to take up driving, and is paired with Scott (Eddie Marsan), an instructor who's her polar opposite. Their relationship is strained until Poppy's bright personality attracts a co-worker, making Scott unexpectedly jealous. Alexis Zegerman and Karina Fernandez co-star in Mike Leigh's effervescent comedy." Well, yeah, that's pretty much what happens, but it's completely beside the point.

The point is, more or less, the title. That maybe it's possible to be, more or less, happy-go-lucky. Leigh is better known for making what my son-in-law calls sad-bastard movies, and while Marsan's character is as sad a bastard as you'll find--and Fernandez's flamenco teacher has her issues as well--Hawkins's character is as advertised. We're invited to imagine chinks in her armo(u)r, to wonder what it costs her to maintain that smile, and that openness to the sad bastards of the world, but there's no evidence that her stance is anything but genuine--which is mostly charming, and a little annoying.

Ultimately, what we have here is a slice of a breathtakingly engaging and sweet, but not saccharine, life.

Trailer

• Il y a longtemps que je t'aime (I've loved you so long)--Yes, definitely if it comes here, and maybe even if it doesn't.