written and directed by Mike Leigh
starring Sally Hawkins, Alexis Zegerman, Kate O’Flynn, Eddie Marsan, Katrina Fernandez, Samuel Roukin
The power of positive thinking. How to win friends and influence people. For the utterly infectious Poppy (Hawkins), it’s as easy as casting a smile in direction of everyone she encounters. It’s more than mere enthusiasm, it’s a startling personal code that drives her forward with seemingly effortless charm.
In this film we meet Poppy riding joyfully through the street on her bicycle. She stops at a bookstore which is tended by a standoffish man who refuses to engage her in conversation. She makes several attempts to chat him up but he remains cold to her advances. Never mind, she jauntily leaves the store bidding him to be happy. Even upon discovering that her bicycle has been stolen she simply resolves to start driving lessons. She is not enslaved by her emotions and regards every situation objectively and with a calm remove from conflict. She has a gift for putting everyone at ease and gaging every situation with a clear mind and an open heart. She’s truly a jewel and her story is intoxicating in its simplicity.
Poppy has fashioned a life for herself that is replete with activities that allow her to express herself in a variety of ways. She is fully engaged with life and finds many opportunities for fun that are a constant theme throughout the film. She simply wants nothing more than that everyone experience the joy that is within them and that they hopefully spread it around to whomever they might meet. She is an embassador for good times and lives strictly in accordance with her own rules. In this film she comes across people who do not share in her outlook and she treats them all with the same equanimity and takes nothing that they might do personally. That is the key to her happiness. She remains unaffected by how others act in her presence and takes no offense when they express feelings that might upset a less balanced person.
Poppy is the eldest of three sisters. There is Helen (Caroline Martin) who is high strung and nervous about her forthcoming baby. Helen is judgmental and chastises Polly because she has determined that Poppy couldn’t possibly be happy having not settled into a mortgage and what she deems to be a proper life. Suzy (O’Flynn) is something of an impetuous brat. She’s a bit wild and somewhat disdainful about her parents and much of what she encounters. Poppy refuses to judge her and simply allows her to live her life as she sees fit. Poppy’s best friend is Zoe (Zegerman) with whom she has lived for ten years. There is a indestructible bond between these two women and they guide each other and keep each other sane.
In the film Poppy is a primary school teacher. She is highly energetic and gives the kids an opportunity to express them selves in class projects that encourage their imaginations. She treats the children with respect and understanding and it is apparent that they respond to her in kind. She is the exact type of teacher that encourages kids to dream about becoming anything they can imagine. She faces a difficulty with one of the students and she reacts calmly again without judgment and leads the boy to explaining what is most likely the source of his anger. It is a reaction that will allow the child to fully understand the impetus of his actions and lead to a greater understanding than if Poppy had merely followed standard procedure and immediately punished the boy.
When Poppy begins driving lessons with Scott (Marsan) she is confronted with an exceedingly angry man who feels threatened at every turn. He discloses his fear of blacks and his disdain for multiculturalism. Poppy laughs these proclamations off although she is somewhat disturbed by his comments about the black guys riding by on their bicycles. Polly is a consistent source of calm whenever she is with Scott and he becomes progressively more irate until he finally loses control of the situation and breaks down entirely. Polly reacts with as much aggressiveness as she exhibits in the entire film. This proves emphatically that her outlook on life doesn’t preclude strong, controlled consternation when the situation calls for it.
There is a wonderfully impassioned scene with a Flamenco teacher (Fernandez) who is exceedingly passionate about the art form and considers Flamenco to be all about the misery and pain of the Gypsies. She is dynamic and prone to emotional outbursts and Poppy appears mostly to be amused by the teacher than anything else. Again, she simply observes the conduct of others without reacting. She remains neutral possibly because it is less taxing and far less odious to do so. It is something of a defense mechanism that protects her from sustaining psychological damage due to the misguided emotional entanglements of others. This is not to say that she doesn’t feel anything because there are many things that move her and bring her tremendous pleasure. It is because she doesn’t waste her karmic energy mucking about over trivial matters that she is able to fully embrace all the complexities of life.
As Poppy proceeds through the film one becomes aware of a hint of naivety in how she approaches other people. Perhaps she possesses an inner guard stick that allows her to judge situations and determine them safe. Regardless she has encounters that have the potential to turn ugly very quickly. She mentions that she’s taught all over Asia and it might be these experiences that have given her perspective and the ability to read people’s intentions. Still, there are moments in this film that are quite tense and it’s not clear if she is going to be able to avoid grave physical injury. Her general day-to-day outlook seems not to have been tested with threatening situations although this isn’t precisely noted in the film.
This is simply a film that celebrates life through the eyes of a woman who has extricated herself from the boring cycle of fear, shame and blame that plagues so many people’s lives. She is not trying to one-up her sisters or anyone for that matter. Her life is not determined by how others think about her and this is readily apparent very early on in the film. She dresses somewhat outrageously in bright, daring colors and possesses a fabulous pair of boots that she wears with just about everything. There is no indication in the film of her most constant passions. She does things but we don’t learn precisely what it is that truly gets her going. We merely observe her activities and we learn that she definitely can be a bit flighty. She doesn’t say anything that is particularly learned or profound. She doesn’t seem to have many opinions about the way the world works or her place in it. She simply is.
This is the story of a woman who has discovered methods of calming her mind down and not taking what the world gives her as an insult. She does occasionally come across as an air-head but that’s only because champagne bubbles are constantly popping off in her head and she can hardly contain herself. I can see how her demeanor might annoy the deeply cynical types who seem to find fault with anything that is too blatantly cheerful. There are going to be those groanies who will not embrace her because she refuses to give up her key intention to spread joy to everyone she meets. She refuses to give up on humanity and presses for its potential for creating an armistice against hate, fear, and suffering. It isn’t mentioned if she has formulated any thoughts about a Utopian society and how it might be organized yet she projects precisely the mind set that would entertain such an idea and its practicality. After spending a bit of time getting to know Poppy it would still be interesting to know what she thinks about when she’s not out being Poppy.
The performances in this film are all a delight to experience. Sally Hawkins is right up there with Audrey Hepburn, Audrey Tautou, and Mary Pickford in creating thoroughly engaging and fascinating characters who are genuinely free spirits. Polly is the rarest of gems and Hawkins makes her a beacon of light that she shines without fail upon the world as she encounters it. Polly is perfectly angelic and the we certainly need more of her type in cinema. Alexis Zegerman’s character has a bit more of a serious aspect to her personality. She provides a nice counterbalance to the almost manic energy displayed by Poppy. Zegerman works well with Hawkins in establishing just the right balance between the two characters. Eddie Marsan brings a gritty gusto to his role and definitively taps into the man’s fears and the anguish that torments his soul. His anger seeps through every frame and it’s brought home with his gestures and posture which articulate constriction and acute frustration.
Overall this is a charming film filled with believable characters who prove to be engaging from start to finish. The film isn’t particularly complicated yet there is great depth to the discovery of such a bona fide breath of fresh air. Poppy is a character that has all but disappeared from our midst. She is a throwback to a different age where woman were expected to remain cheerful no matter how many pies they had to bake. Her innocence is beguiling and a bit scary. Yet she learns something valuable over the course of the film. She comes away with an understanding that she did not possess before. We don’t learn what she thinks about the ordeal but we do get to see how it affects her mood. Ultimately this film should be seen and celebrated by as many people as possible. There needs to be more of this type of thing. There needs to be more films that present such unabashed goodness to a world choking on its own cynicism.
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