Life Is Sweet (1990)

Just north of London live Wendy, Andy, and their twenty-something twins, Natalie and Nicola. Wendy clerks in a shop, leads aerobics at a primary school, jokes like a vaudevillian, agrees to... See full summary »

Director:

Mike Leigh

Writer:

Mike Leigh

Stars:

Alison Steadman, Jim Broadbent, Claire Skinner

8 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Alison Steadman	...	Wendy
Jim Broadbent	...	Andy
Claire Skinner	...	Natalie
Jane Horrocks	...	Nicola
Stephen Rea	...	Patsy
Timothy Spall	...	Aubrey
David Thewlis	...	Nicola's Lover
Moya Brady	...	Paula
David Neilson	...	Steve
Harriet Thorpe	...	Customer
Paul Trussel	...	Chef
Jack Thorpe-Baker	...	Nigel

Storyline

Just north of London live Wendy, Andy, and their twenty-something twins, Natalie and Nicola. Wendy clerks in a shop, leads aerobics at a primary school, jokes like a vaudevillian, agrees to waitress at a friend's new restaurant and dotes on Andy, a cook who forever puts off home remodeling projects, and with a drunken friend, buys a broken down lunch wagon. Natalie, with short neat hair and a snappy, droll manner, is a plumber; she has a holiday planned in America, but little else. Last is Nicola, odd man out: a snarl, big glasses, cigarette, mussed hair, jittery fingers, bulimic, jobless, and unhappy. How they interact and play out family conflict and love is the film's subject.

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Plot Keywords:

twin | lunch wagon | restaurant | class differences | eating disorder | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and a scene of sensuality

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

December 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Az élet olyan édes

Filming Locations:

Enfield, Middlesex, England, UK

Box Office

Gross:

$1,516,414 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Screen Productions, Channel Four Films, Thin Man Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The menu of the Regret Rien restaurant includes: Black Pudding and Camembert Soup, Boiled Bacon Comsommé, Saveloy on a Bed of Lychees, Liver in Lager, Pork Cyst, Clams in Ham with Pan-Fried Cocke-based Sauce, Prune Quiche, King Prawn (just one) in Jam Sauce, Duck in Chocolate Sauce, Tongues in a Rhubarb Hollandaise, Tripe Soufflé, Quails on a Bed of Spinach and Treacle, Kidney Vols-au-vent, Chilled Brains, Prune Quiche, Grilled Trotter with Eggs Over Easy

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Quotes

[Natalie and Nicola ponder having children]
Natalie: Well, I wouldn't fancy bringing one up on me own.
Nicola: It's better to be on your own than be with a bastard.
Natalie: Well, presumably you wouldn't *choose* a bastard in the first place if you had any sense!
Nicola: All men are bastards!
Natalie: *What*?
Nicola: They're all potential rapists!
Natalie: That's a bit sweeping!
Nicola: All men have got the ability to rape.
Natalie: Well they don't all do it, do they!
[...]

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Connections

Featured in The South Bank Show: Mike Leigh (2002)

User Reviews

"Aubrey's in a coma, he doesn't want any chips!"

A superb example of Mike Leigh's directing method - working with his actors, many of them regulars, making up most of the script as they go along.

No falling empires or coveted magical rings here, just the small victories and tiny despairs of everyday life - Timothy Spall's ridiculous restaurant ("Liver in Lager"??), Jane Horrocks' eating disorder and general estrangement from the world, Jim Broadbent and his grimy little burger van, Clair Skinner's endearingly sensible tomboy plumber... all exquisite little portraits. Best of all is Alison Steadman as the suburban Earth-mother trying to hold it all together.

It shows, above all, that a great film can be about anything really, as long as the direction, acting and script is of this calibre. Ben Hur, it ain't!

Absolutely marvelous - 9/10.