ANOTHER YEAR: A FILM BY MIKE LEIGH

Another one of those British character driven movies that we like and could even understand, as often the English accent is difficult to understand.  In this film, we witness a stable, happy marriage, as Tom, a geologist and Gerrie, a social worker, drift into their sixties, happy with each other, their lives, their son Joe, and their occupations.  They spend a great deal of their time at their community garden, a setting for many comings and goings.  Contrasting with them is Tom's buddy Ken, an affable, heavy set, heavy drinking buddy, who stops by for a weekend, and we peer, for the first time, into the unhappiness of others, people not as lucky as the Heppies in their marriage.  But the essential conflict surrounds Gerrie's office friend, Mary, a very needy 40 ish women, single, longing for a emotional relationship, unhappy with her life, her job, her relationships, a bit jealous, it would seem of what her best friend has, a good husband, a stable marriage, and happiness.  The movie has four parts, Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall, as we are introduced to these characters, in various settings.  The stability and affability of the Heppies is tested by Mary, as she appears in each vignette, increasingly unhappy, even flirting with the Heppies son Joe.  When, in fall, in brings home a woman with whom he has fallen in love, Mary treats her with disdain, much to the discomfort of all.  She clearly overstays her welcome and in the final scene, Winter, she barges in without an invitation, upsetting everyone as Tom's brother's wife has just died, but Gerrie and Tom and such good people, they invite to stay for the wake dinner, and the film ends with her sitting at the table, unhappy but not unwelcome, as the ties of affection are frayed but not not broken.  Nothing is settled; she has no life; the Heppies may eventually cut the ties, but for now, their lives go on.  I have to admit I really did get tired of Mary, as she takes over the scenes, and listening to her complain and go on not only tires the family but the viewer, as it's meant to.  The family, however, their relationship with each other, their son and his friend, and the troubled friends allows the viewer to leave with a wisp of optimism, about the essential humanity of humankind.