High Hopes and
We All Think the World o f You
Two British social satires,
Crossing the classes, the ages, the sexes, these films cover
the well-worn subject of life in England in modern times,
but freshly, and with plenty of humor
BY
E L E A N O R
M A L I N
We All Think the World of You
High Hopes
yril. (Philip Davis) a disillusioned
Marxist, is letting go of his hopes for a
worker’s revolt, or at least that people would
wise up to what a jerk Margaret Thatcher is and
what parasites members of the royal family are.
C
Cyril’s longtime lover Shirley, (Ruth
Sheen), is slender, brunette, buck-toothed, and
looks like a sexy, laid-back, chipmunk. She has
a sharp, though gentle, wit. She humors Cyril
in his Marxist leanings, but is generally less
interested in politics. She works on a crew
planting trees in parks. Nurturing, she tends
plants around their shabby apartment (the
biggest cactus is named Thatcher), and longs
to have children (Cyril doesn’t).
Cyril’s sister, Valerie (Heather Tobias)
aspires to a classier way of life. She spends a
lot of her husband’s money, and copies others
for clothing styles. She avidly works out. But
the total effect misses the mark. In her funny
glasses, giggling uncontrollably, she looks a
mess. The expensive decorations in her home
look a mess. She’s a true incompetent . . . she
can't get the affection she wants from her hus
band; she can’t express the love one guesses
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omedy, yes, there are laughs in it; but
We All Think the World o f You strings
out the laughs among the tragedies, smaller and
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larger, experienced by a sizeable number of
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characters.
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Johnny, played by Greg Oldman, is a work
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ing class man who has had an affair with an
v
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older, affluent man, Frank, played by Alan
Bates. Johnny is later (one surmises), seduced
by Megan, a working class woman, who
already has a daughter, Rita, a little brat
who’s not being raised very well by Megan.
Megan and Johnny already have one child,
“ little Dickie.’’ Frank pays Dickie’s grand
mother to babysit so Megan can work.
Johnny’s in jail, and is the weak, vulnerable
type of character Oldman plays so well. Johnny
tries to pass on the guilt to Frank. He needed
money and asked for a loan, but Frank refused.
Johnny drifts along serving his year in jail
(for housebreaking), breaking rules and seem
ing to torture Frank, (he spends all his letters
and visits on Megan and his parents). Frank
ends up supporting, or at least subsidizing,
all of them, stuffing lots of pound notes in
vases in both living rooms, sending eigs and
books to the tantalizingly unavailable Johnny,
and visiting the old folks on a regular basis.
He even takes over the difficult chore of
exercising Evie, Johnny's Alsatian pup, who
soon has grown too strong and vigorous for
old mum, ailing stepfather or (for sure),
the pregnant-again Megan to deal with.
Soon a full-scale conflict arises over
Johnny’s dog. She’s both neglected and abused
by the parents. Penned up in a tiny “ back
yard,” the bouncy dog wriggles her way into
the affections of Frank, who tries to move her to
his spacious apartment, tries to buy her. This
is obviously a battle for the soul of Johnny,
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however, and the strong tradition of some in
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the working classes to cling to theirs and keep
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them miserable, too, prevails as long as Johnny
is in jail and the old folks are in charge.
Frank thinks when Johnny gets out, he will
return to him, and all will be well. The old
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folks, Megan, even Rita, pretend to be nice,
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take his money, and secretly (or not so),
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scorn him.
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Many kinds of prisons are subtly depicted in
We Alt Think the World o f You. The ram
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bunctious dog in her little rabbit warren; the
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old folks in their shabby tenement, likely mess
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ing up little Dickie, the same as they did
Johnny; Megan — not the maternal type at all
— who has turned herself into a little baby
factory to hold on to Johnny; Johnny in prison,
then later in a dead-end job and loveless
marriage. Not the easiest prison is that of
Frank, who is a slave to his love for the un
deserving Johnny, and his sincere compassion
for the dog, Evy, along w ith the extreme incon
venience that causes his formerly well-ordered
Psychological
life.
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There’s enough humor to categorize
for
this film as a comedy, and a good one, but the
dreariness of the lives of the British working
Women, Men,
class, the suffering of the dog, the stupid look
and Couples
on little Dickie’s face, the final shot of Megan,
pregnant af>ain — some of the content quietly
verges on the horrible.
Some revelations occur in final scenes that
are pretty funny, though — among them being
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why Johnny thought he needed the money and
how wrong he was.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
The primo weak loser in films Unlay,
Oldman makes a great wimp, trying to do the
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right thing, but never having the courage to
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make the right moves.
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she must feel for her mother. She dislikes Cyril
and Shirley.
Mum’s elderly. Mrs. Bender, (Edna Dore),
spends her day napping, drinking, tea, and
napping. She appears to be coming down with
Alzheimer’s and has a bad experience at the
chemist’s shop, then another at the birthday
party Valerie hosts for her.
Mum’s neighbors, the yuppie Boothe-
Braines, seem to have no redeeming social
significance. They bought into a set of run
down row houses and fixed up theirs to be
fashionable. When Mum’s locked out of her
house, they grudgingly let her in to wait.
They urge her to sell, obviously hoping for a
classier neighbor, one who will fix up the
yard and paint the place.
Laetitia (Leslie Manville) and Rupert (David
Bember) Boothe-Braine are vicious carica
tures of the Brit upper class. One would have
to study to be such silly, meaningless twits.
Martin, Valerie’s husband, is a caricature of
the working class who do. at least, make
money. He has become bored with bad sex with
Valerie, yet pays for bad sex with another,
seemingly destituc, also uninterested woman.
Always on the make, Martin hits on Shirley.
“ Ever done any modeling’’ he asks the beauti-
ful-within, plain-without, Shirl. “ No, but I’ve
done a bit of yodeling,” she parries.
Writer-director Mike Leigh uses a different
technique than do most filmmakers. He casts
the film first, then steeps each actor in character
( what would they feel, listen to, be likely to
say, whom would they have dated), then puts
them together and lets ’em rip. He cast this
film very well, and the acting is fine. It feels
like you are there with the folks.
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May 19X9