High Hopes (1988 film)

High Hopes is a 1988 film directed by Mike Leigh, focusing on an extended working-class family living in King's Cross, London and elsewhere.

Contents

• High hopes mike leigh 1988
• Plot
• Cast
• Awards and nominations
• References

The film primarily examines Cyril (Philip Davis) and Shirley (Ruth Sheen), a motor-cycle courier and his girlfriend, along with their friends, neighbours, and Cyril's mother and sister.

Despite staying true to Leigh's down-at-the-heel, realist style, the film is ultimately a social comedy concerning culture clashes between different classes and belief systems. According to the critic Michael Coveney', "As in Meantime, High Hopes contrasts the economic and spiritual conditions of siblings. And in developing some of the themes in Babies Grow Old and Grown-Ups, it presents a brilliantly organised dramatic résumé of attitudes towards parturition and old age."

Plot

Cyril is a strong, old-style socialist, who despairs of his elderly working-class but Tory-voting mum; her new yuppie neighbours, the Boothe-Braines (who have purchased what was once a Council house next door); and his social-climbing sister and her crass, car-salesman husband. Cyril and Shirley are portrayed as the most decent characters in the film, despite Cyril's irascible nature. Theirs is a strong relationship, marred by Cyril's reluctance to have children and his resentment that his cause is destined to be on the losing side in history.

Cast

Phil Davis as Cyril

Ruth Sheen as Shirley

Edna Doré as Mrs Bender

Philip Jackson as Martin

Heather Tobias as Valerie

Lesley Manville as Lætitia

David Bamber as Rupert

Jason Watkins as Wayne

Judith Scott as Suzi

Awards and nominations

European Film Awards

Won: Best Actress – Leading Role (Ruth Sheen)

Won: Best Composer (Andrew Dickson)

Won: Best Supporting Performance (Edna Doré)

Nominated: Best Film

Independent Spirit Awards (USA)

Nominated: Best Foreign Film

Venice Film Festival (Italy)

Won: FIPRESCI Prize (Mike Leigh)