This stage, TV and film director is noted for his film stylein which the commonplace is often tinged with the extraordinaryhas been dubbed "social surrealism", or as he prefers to call it, "heightened realism". A creative force in London's experimental fringe theater since the 1960s, Mike Leigh earned critical acclaim for his numerous TV films investigating the vicissitudes of life among the "proles", notably the 1977 drama, "Abigail's Party".
After making his feature debut with "Bleak Moments" (1971), Leigh took a 17-year hiatus, working exclusively for British stage and TV. He returned to films, winning international attention for "High Hopes" (1988), a grim portrait of Thatcherite London. Leigh's low-key style and his knack for offbeat characterization and warm humor all enrich his surprisingly life-affirming 1991 comedy "Life Is Sweet" about a dysfunctional working class family. His next effort, "Naked" (1993), was a stark portrait of one man's (David Thewlis) journey into the bowels of his soul. Critically acclaimed in the USA and at the Cannes Film Festival (where he was named Best Director and Thewlis Best Actor), the film was largely panned in England, with most reviewers citing what they saw as the story's misogynistic aspects.
In 1996, Leigh directed what many critics felt was his best film to date, "Secrets & Lies". The winner of the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or, it focused on two women, a twentysomething black optometrist adoptee (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) and a heavy-drinking middle-aged working-class white woman (Brenda Blethyn), the former's birth mother. When their lives intersect, the results create familial conflicts and anguish. The film earned five Oscar nominations, including two for Leigh's directions and screenplay. His follow-up "Career Girls" (1997), was thought by some to be a disappointment, particularly in light of the success of "Secret & Lies". A look at female friendship, "Career Girls" delivered on its own merits an off-centered examination of human relationships.
Leigh triumphed with his next major film, "Topsy-Turvy" (1999), inspired by the lives of the operetta writing team of W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. Interspersing snippets of production numbers (mostly from "The Mikado"), the film was an aural and visual feast that entranced critics and enchanted audiences. Atypical of Leigh's gritty dramas, "Topsy-Turvy" was a period drama that held contemporary resonance and raised issues about the creation of art. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards and won twoone for Costume Design, the other for Makeup. Leigh stepped behind the camera to direct another critically acclaimed film, All or Nothing (2002), starring Timothy Spall and Lesley Manville. The ensemble drama was a return for Leigh in depicting the lives of dysfunctional lower-class British families. Though it was overlooked by the Academy, All or Nothing was rewarded with four 2002 London Film Critics Circle awards, including Film of the Year. In 2004, Leigh directed what has been considered his best film to date, Vera Drake, a post-World War II drama about a cheerful and dedicated wife and mother who performs backdoor abortions for women in need. Leigh earned nominations for Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay, and won his first BAFTA award for directing in 2005.
Copyright © Baseline 2006.