Bleak Moments

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Mike Leigh's 1st feature film Bleak Moments announced a considerable talent.I don't think he ever improved on the all-round quality of acting performances,script and directing,including cinematography.Shot in Norwood,South London,it evokes a time 1970,and place,suburban streets,and a form of behaviour,which is awkwardly English, introspective,given to embarrassingly long silences of all the main characters.This film has all the quality for British cinema that new wave had for the French.Sylvia(Anne Rait) lives with her mentally-disabled sister,Hilda(Sarah Stephenson) in their house.She loves her sister and looks out for her,bringing in gentleman callers, one an uptight schoolteacher,Peter(Eric Allan)the other a hippie guy,Norman(Mike Bradwell)who plays guitar for Hilda and keeps Sylvia company.She has loaned out her garage for him to live in and print copies of a folk music magazine.Sylvia works as a typist in an office with her colleague Pat,with a boss who is an irritating bore.The anguish of unexpressed inner feelings,the failure of personal communication and social interaction,the isolation of the characters from each other. We are not connected to the wide world,only a shots of dark interiors cut with shots of residential streets.Hilda is isolated by her disability,yet all the characters fall short and crave experience and company.The desperate nature of their existence expressed in a social gathering, and a scene set in a Chinese restaurant.Mostly Sylvia's attempts to tempt Peter,by topping up his glass with sherry and through body language.All the performers are 1st rate,but the film is centred on Anne Raitt's impassive,calm,measured,plaintive beauty,tempered by a stoic humour.Most bizarrely Peter attempts to converse intellectually about the medium dominating the message with Sylvia makes him blind to the real communication,and he falls flat at a kiss.Raitt has the bobbed hair of a Jane Eyre(and she plays the piano). Leigh draws out the silences,the pregnant pauses, until we get to each tortured soul.Technically perfect,tonally brilliant.Leigh has never been better.He's the film equivalent of Pinter and Larkin.

I think that this is one of the most amazing (and amazingly real--whatever that means) films I have ever seen. what a brave piece of work. unflinching. if you like Leigh at all (Naked is another masterpiece), check this VERY OBSCURE picture out. you might weep for humanity, but it'll be cathartic for you. cheers.

With the exception of Topsy Turvey, which was an uncharacteristically (for Mike Leigh) colorful look at Gilbert and Sullivan), Mike Leigh usually tends to be at the top of his game when his films revolve around an interesting central character, graced by a fine performance in that central role (David Thewliss in Naked, Brenda Blethyn in Secrets And Lies, Imelda Staunton in Vera Drake, Sally Hawkins in Happy Go Lucky, etc.), or even around a more supporting character highlighted by a fine performance (Lesley Manville in Another Year). Bleak Moments (which could have more aptly been named Awkward Moments or even Dull Moments) suffers from the lack of such a central character. Anne Raitt, Eric Allan, and Mike Bradwell certainly do well in portraying the shyness and awkwardness of their characters, but these are dull people leading dull lives, which, unfortunately, adds up to a dull story and dull movie. In Roger Ebert's 1972 review of the film, he calls it a masterpiece and compares it to Eric Rohmer's My Night At Maud's. The big difference between the two films, in my opinion, is that the dialogue in Rohmer's film is intelligent and interesting. The dialogue in Bleak Moments may be natural and realistic, but it simply isn't interesting. Leigh's intention seems to have been a slice-of-life portrayal of the English working-class, but slice-of-life does not necessarily equate to compelling, let alone entertaining. If you're a fan of Mike Leigh, then you'll probably want to check it out, since this is his first film; otherwise, be warned by the title.

This film is certainly filled with bleak moments, and reminded me of Ingmar Bergman's films and and Woody Allen's 'Interiors'. If you like depressing films, you'll love this!

This is an utterly British film (in social norms, manners and language) that will impress you with it's sheer originality. For some portion of the film I felt a more appropriate title to be "Uncomfortable Moments", due to the slightest edge of humor in several scenes, though there are enough bleak ones to warrant. Many people might find this film too slow, or like me; it may move you to rapt attention, boredom, annoyance, a giggle, concern, rooting for a character, and a certain kind of discomfort that leaves you shifting in your seat. Afterward you may feel compelled to have a long conversation with another human being, just to reassure that it is indeed possible, and you may certainly entertain some quiet reflection. Once I realized what this film was doing I quickly imagined how the scene would play a time or two; just to ease the feeling that each character's desire which passed unmet, left me as frustrated as those on screen. With no traditional soundtrack to speak of I found each musical moment from the characters rather uplifting in it's honesty, in a film that emphasizes how words often convey but the slightest hint of what was meant to be said. Though Bleak Moments may not be for everyone, for those it moves, it could be quite amazing. If nothing else this is a film for film's sake; and I can only imagine that it must have had an influence on the whole Dogma 95 crew for it's starkly honest portrayal of everyday life. Any aspiring director who admires the slice of life genre or any aspiring actor who wants to see superb performances of tragically real characters that pull you to the edge of your seat, and needle you to bury your face in your hands; needs to see this.

noir et caustique à souhait

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This was Mike Leigh`s first feature length film, and to my mind remains one of his most powerful. I`m afraid I must disagree with the other reviewer from Yorkshire who refers to this film as a period piece or merely "a slice of social history". This film like many of Mike`s other films is about the breakdown in personal communication within an increasingly alienated society, and as such is more relevant now than ever before. However in Bleak Moments this breakdown of communication results in a peculiarly British or English form of repression -virtually all the characters are introverted or repressed in some way. The theme of communication throuout the film is made obvious in a scene where a character discusses the author Marshall Mcluhan and his theory that in mass media the real message is in the method of communication. The lack of meaningful communication and silence in these peoples lives is reflected in the fact that there is no external music in the film. Like the recent `Dogme` films the only music to be found is made by the characters in the film - in this case Norman playing his guitar.The film revolves around the pleasant but withdrawn character of Sylvia (played by Anne Raitt) Lonely and always dressed in black she lives in a dreary suburban area with her handicapped sister Hilda (Sarah Stephenson) who she cares for. During the film Sylvia befriends a very nervous hippy from Scunthorpe called Norman (Mike Bradwell) who is renting her garage. But perhaps the most disdurbed character is the chronically repressed and somewhat misanthropic shoolteacher Peter (Eric Allan). One senses that Sylvia and Peter both desire some sort of intimate relationship with each other, but that the level of communication and emotional developement required for such personal involvement would make it unlikely to develop.The truly astonoshing thing about this film is how they succede in taking this depiction of repression and nervousness to such an extreme level without it becoming farcical, and also retain well rounded and believable characters. This is due in large part to the strength of the acting, which Mike always manages to get from his talanted performers. The characters inner worlds are shown not so much through speech but through their physicality and above all their facial expressions. We may never meet people quite as repressed or introverted as these characters, but the directors purpose in accentuating these tendencies is to make clearer the dangers and shortcomings of such tendencies.Finally, although the film title is aproppriate and the aquardness of the characters is often difficult to watch the film is not without humour. In fact watching this the second time around i found myself roaring with laughter occasionaly. We are not however invited to laugh at them in a cruel way, rather they make us laugh in the same way real people`s ideosyncracies can make us laugh. I strongly recommend viewing this film. A masterpiece in my opinion, and a work of tremendous psychological depth.

Before Mike Leigh wrote and directed this debut film, he was already well established as a TV film director at BBC. Therefore it is not surprising that this film already showed his mastery as a filmmaker and writer.The story is about a single woman with an adult younger sister with mental challenges while working at an office with a quirky co-worker. Her personal life also involved taking care of her sister and visiting her bedridden mother. Meanwhile she met a gentleman with potentials but later on she found out he has his own set of issues. It is about these Bleak Moments although the film itself is sprinkled with humour, love and hope.Recommended.

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