Poppy is a thirty-year old Primary School teacher in contemporary North London. She has great friends, a job she loves and a full life. The movie watches her confront the harsh realities of life and deal with them head-on, never losing her sense of humour.
Sally Hawkins and Eddie Marsan star in director Mike Leigh’s lighthearted comedy concerning an eternally optimistic teacher living and working in North London. Thirty year-old teacher Poppy (Hawkins) always has a smile on her face, and does her best to brighten the days of those around her by making small talk and cracking jokes.
For the past ten years Poppy has lived with her best friend Zoe (Alexis Zegerman), a fellow teacher whose wry outlook on life serves as the perfect counterbalance to Poppy’s effervescent charm. One day, after her bike is stolen, Poppy decides that it’s time to take driving lessons and enrolls in the Axle School of Motoring. Almost instantly, Poppy and her stressed-out instructor Scott (Eddie Marsan) clash.
Still, it seems that there’s more to this relationship than surface appearances would suggest. After accompanying her colleague Heather (Sylvestra le Touzel) to a tango class taught by a particularly passionate instructor (Karina Fernandaz), Poppy connects with kindly school social worker Tim (Samuel Roukin). Of course Tim can’t help but falling for a woman of such boundless compassion, but how will Poppy’s increasingly jealous driving instructor react to the news of her most recent romance?
Production notes provided by Summit Entertainment.
Happy-Go-Lucky
Starring: Sally Hawkins, Alexis Zegerman, Andrea Riseborough, Samuel Roukin, Sinead Matthews, Kate O’Flynn, Sarah Niles, Eddie Marsan, Joseph Kloska
Directed by: Mike Leigh
Screenplay by: Mike Leigh
Release Date: October 10, 2008
MPAA Rating: R for for language.
Studio: Summit Entertainment
Box Office Totals
Domestic: $3,512,016 (20.1%)
Foreign: $13,980,961 (79.9%)
Total: $17,492,977 (Worldwide)