When you first meet Pauline “Poppy” Cross in Mike Leigh’s film Happy-Go-Lucky, you wish she would leave. Decked out in turquoise, high-heeled suede boots, and fishnet stockings, she parks her bike and ambles into a bookstore on a sunny weekend morning. The store is empty but for a grumpy cashier, and Poppy breaks the unwritten rule of bookstores (and libraries and museums): remain quiet. Poppy sees it as her mission to defy these kinds of social norms, and she does her best to distract and engage him. The cashier remains silent, a scowl hiding behind his bushy beard. His relief at her departure is palpable.
When Poppy leaves the bookstore, she discovers her commuter bicycle has been stolen. This prompts her to sign up for driving lessons, and she meets Scott, her dour and troubled instructor. Scott, (played by Eddie Marsan in a performance that challenges Robert DeNiro’s Travis Bickle), is a serious, impatient, and perhaps off-balanced teacher. With each lesson, Scott grows more difficult and upset and Poppy becomes more of a brat. Scott invokes a satanic deity, “En-Ra-Ha,” as a mnemonic to remember to check the mirrors; he has somehow connected the Washington Monument to 666; and when a pair of black boys rides their bikes past the instruction car, Scott tells Poppy to lock the doors. She laughs at him. It is not entirely clear why he confides in her; perhaps she is the only person who listens to him, or perhaps he only hopes to diminish her affable nature. Anyone else would quit, but perky, positive Poppy perseveres, hoping, perhaps, that Scott will snap out of it.
If this were your everyday romantic comedy, Scott might be played by Ben Stiller, still angry, but in a funny way; and Poppy would be Drew Barrymore, care-free and ditzily going through life. Their driving lessons would have been their first step towards love. But Mike Leigh doesn’t make movies like that. Leigh’s storytelling objective is to remain as realistic as possible. We don’t see the Chekhovian return of Poppy’s bike, and she and Scott don’t drive off into the sunset together. This is not the kind of film you watch to escape — the characters and situations are far too genuine for that.
Leigh’s complex film-making process eschews traditional scripts. Instead, he collaborates with actors, one on one, to create every minute detail of their characters’ lives. As one actor described it, by the end of the process she felt she knew her character better than she knows herself. Leigh then brings the characters together, such as placing polar opposites Poppy and Scott in the tiny student driver’s car. The dialogue is improvised, but the actors embody their characters so fully they are able to react to any situation and stay in character. As in Leigh’s other work, like Secrets & Lies, Vera Drake, and Topsy-Turvy, characters take on an almost frightening reality. What sets Happy-Go-Lucky apart from Leigh’s other work is that this time, his main character is actually happy.
Hawkins won a Golden Globe and many other accolades for her role, but wasn’t nominated for an Academy Award. This is most likely because the film was, honestly, just not American enough. Mike Leigh’s films aren’t for everyone. Leigh’s process does not allow for slick storytelling, a turnoff for many American film-goers. The film has its bumps, it ambles, you’re really not sure where you’re going, just like life. The main reasons to see the film are the performances. Both Hawkins’ and Marsan’s performances are seamless and strong, and they create truly memorable characters —
instances in your life will cause you to remember them long after the screen has gone dark. Happy-Go-Lucky is evidence that Leigh is the kind of director who knows precisely how to tap into and maximize an actor’s strengths, bringing out both their worst and best, for the benefit of the story (and the audience).
It seems as though Leigh’s intention for the film was that audiences could learn from Poppy and Scott — two realistic characters with very real-life problems. Scott fears life; Poppy embraces it. Scott hates the world for moving forward; Poppy is glad to go along for the ride. Like them, we can demand our own space and free our minds (with or without the assistance of flamenco and trampolining). We can greet bothersome people with a smile, and brush off the haters who wish us ill. When we are met with challenges and crossroads in life, we can create our own luck. We certainly don’t have to go to the extremes Poppy does, but a little bit goes a long way.
