Life is Sweet

Few films have captured the joy, the drama and the sheer messiness of life quite like this groundbreaking film from director Mike Leigh. It stars Alison Steadman and Jim Broadbent as Wendy and Andy, two lower middle class English parents struggling to make ends meet during the hard scrabble days of the Thatcher regime. Although money is tight, the pair does their best to keep things light and funny around the house not always an easy thing to do given the generally negative world view of their twin daughters, played by Claire Skinner and Jane Horrocks. Things look brighter when Andy buys a dilapidated chip van that he thinks will change his fortune, but it’s soon pretty clear that life, sweet though it may be at times, has other plans for Wendy, Andy and their children.