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Director Mike Leigh eventually puts these two opposites in a room together, or in the case of this movie, in a tiny, standard transmission automobile used for driving lessons. Here, the misanthrope is the instructor; the happy-go-lucky of the title, the student. Poppy is a thirty-year-old elementary school teacher without angst; in fact, she probably hasn't the slightest notion of what angst exactly is. In the first bit of real action in the film her bike has been lifted from where she had parked it. She is upset, and talks to herself about it with a sense of disbelief. But she's in tune with herself, and she has no hostility for the thief, or for this turn in life, losing her bike this way. She says something like "I didn't even get to say goodbye!" And off she goes, walking her way home. The loss of the bike followed a failed flirtation with a bookstore clerk. That, too, resulted in no quashed self-esteem, but rather a sense that the dour (though cute) clerk was missing out on something, not the reverse. The about-nothing, Seinfeld quality referred to is the very little that actually happens in this film; that is, the little that happens in a linear, narrative way. Except for the weekly driving lessons (see above), there are only tidbits, the series of sequences that describe the life of Poppy, played with exquisite charm and sensitivity by British actress Sally Hawkins. So what we have are scenes that don't quite build to a story, but are compelling nonetheless, because they evoke everyday realities handled by a not-so-everyday sort of woman. This Poppy is one remarkable gal. Some viewers might be turned off by such unrelenting cheerfulness. But the character is not stupid, dull or daft. She is, in fact, quite intelligent, alert and psychologically whole and healthy. She lacks the pessimism of the depressive. Some might say that makes her unrealistic. But it's Poppy's optimism that all by itself makes her irresistible to watch, even if you're waiting to see her fall from grace. One scene in particular demonstrates to us how Poppy is a compassionate, creative and therapeutic soul. There's no other purpose for this scene in the movie, yet it feels right, and it's a joy to watch. Hollywood folks would have cut it. (Hollywood folks wouldn't make the movie in the first place.) Poppy accidentally finds herself alone in the presence of a homeless man who is probably schizophrenic. She naturally tries to engage him in conversation. She asks if he has had enough to eat, for instance. But mostly she indicates to him (and us) that she is with him, somehow. She takes his nonsensical utterances seriously, agreeing with him, understanding his verbal/nonverbal state. We get it: they are both members of the human race, and as different as the two are, Sally Hawkins as Poppy delicately informs us, the audience, that the suffering of the psychotic man is on the same human continuum as the fine functioning of the schoolteacher. Mike Leigh, originally a theater director, uses a particular method to write his scripts: he has his actors develop their characters first, and then he introduces these characters to one another and allows the improvisations that follow to become the storyline. What happens in this film is that the scenes that seem unrelated are carefully chosen. They allow the characters to emerge as understandable human beings who behave the way they do for inherently sensible reasons. This 'method' nurtures what feels like a kind of organic acting that is as real as life. Sally Hawkins has already won the Best Actress award for her portrayal of Poppy in the Berlin International Film Festival, and of course there's Oscar talk, too, about her. But everyone in the cast of this film deserves credit, especially Eddie Marsan as Scott, the right-wing driving instructor, whom Poppy frustrates and finally unwittingly undoes. Happy-Go-Lucky is pretty much without comparison out there in the movies. The main character is barely flawed, she's barely in conflict with anyone in the world, but we want to be with her anyway. A fine example of mental health in our so-unhealthy society, she's like a tiny tendril of green growth that manages to perk through the icy glacier of modern life. I would not call the movie "heartwarming," though. It's more like the feeling you have after a doctor's visit and you find out you're healthy, you've got no particular problems, so you have one less excuse not to feel free to live your life as you want. Go for it!
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