Stars Marion Bailey, Paul Jesson, Kate O’Flynn, and Alice Bailey Johnson

Synopsis:

One of our most steadfast, unflinching chroniclers of the human condition, Mike Leigh has now crafted, along with a customarily brilliant ensemble, a portrayal of overwhelmed, resilient lives in post-Brexit England that should be received as one of his signature works. At its center is Amy (Kate O’Flynn), a government child protection worker who, after a failed relationship, has moved back in with her chipper best friend, Rosie (Alice Bailey Johnson), whose job as a social services officer is a daily confrontation with anger and resentment. Meanwhile, Amy’s aging parents (Marion Bailey and Paul Jesson), concerned with their daughter’s happiness, suddenly have to contend with a crisis of their own. Smiling through their struggles—with or without a trusty bottle of wine—these finely drawn characters, and all of the remarkable supporting characters with whom they come into contact, speak volumes about the U.K.’s underfunded and fragmented care sector. Avoiding didacticism and maintaining a leveling sense of humor, Leigh shows, with clear-eyed compassion, the difficulty of asking for—and accepting—help in a world that continually lets us down.

also some sad news

take it easy goat

happy I got to see him at NYFF for Hard Truths, hoping they show this one this year

nah goat I will not believe it

Woah Mike Leigh x Kate o flyn from widows bay

Mike Leigh really is a GOAT, his consistency is absurd.

Synopsis:

One of our most steadfast, unflinching chroniclers of the human condition, Mike Leigh has now crafted, along with a customarily brilliant ensemble, a portrayal of overwhelmed, resilient lives in post-Brexit England that should be received as one of his signature works. At its center is Amy (Kate O’Flynn), a government child protection worker who, after a failed relationship, has moved back in with her chipper best friend, Rosie (Alice Bailey Johnson), whose job as a social services officer is a daily confrontation with anger and resentment. Meanwhile, Amy’s aging parents (Marion Bailey and Paul Jesson), concerned with their daughter’s happiness, suddenly have to contend with a crisis of their own. Smiling through their struggles—with or without a trusty bottle of wine—these finely drawn characters, and all of the remarkable supporting characters with whom they come into contact, speak volumes about the U.K.’s underfunded and fragmented care sector. Avoiding didacticism and maintaining a leveling sense of humor, Leigh shows, with clear-eyed compassion, the difficulty of asking for—and accepting—help in a world that continually lets us down.

If Leigh’s screen career, which includes seven Oscar nominations without a win, indeed concludes with Tender Loving Care, it’ll make for a fitting closing note. The movie is wondrously attuned to the mundane, to the absurd humor and gentle devastation that lives in the everyday — and in so much of his work. It’s a kind of call to action through filmmaking, an unflinching look at the way overloaded systems are failing countless people and an expression of the vitality of showing up for those in need. O’Flynn sees it in tandem with Leigh’s last work, Hard Truths

“Hard Truths is kind of painful, and with this, he wanted a slightly lighter, more loving thing,” O’Flynn says. “When I watched Hard Truths, I was like, ‘This guy’s still got it.’ There’s a fearlessness in it. It’s amazing that he still f***ing wants to do it. So many people, as they get older, get scared and their worlds become smaller. They don’t live. What I love about Mike is there is that determination to live and be plugged in and be interested.”

O’Flynn gives a poignant, deeply lived-in, subtly shattering performance in Tender Loving Care as Amy, a dogged social worker struggling to rebuild her life after ending things with her boyfriend. She moves in with her best friend (played by breakout Alice Bailey Johnson) while navigating simmering tensions with her parents (Paul Jesson and Marion Bailey), who imagined a different life for their daughter. These strands emotionally converge as Amy’s father’s health begins declining, and the family must come together for him and for one another.

hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/kate-oflynn-mike-leigh-tender-loving-care-exclusive-1236678784

Tender Loving Care’s final shot alone holds so much of Leigh’s 55 years of making movies — and the director came up with it well in advance, telling O’Flynn about it on set. As the significance of the whole project to Leigh became clear, O’Flynn found that grief infusing the work. “I don’t think Mike would agree with this, but there was something meta about it,” she says. “You’ve got a filmmaker who’s making his last film, and then the film is about that stage of life and things ending. God, I think I’m getting myself in a rabbit hole. But it’s about all the ways we try and care, and the complexities that come with that. It was all in the air.”

Movie releases on December 4th

@Elric

we’ll be there

Already in

Wish Lesley Manville was in it though

She’s British?? This cheeky bird pulled a Bob Hoskins on me

In

JUST GOT A TICKET FOR SEPT 13TH

if this is indeed Mr. Leigh's final film, what a film to go out with

that final shot

Damn you just seen it???

yep, just saw it at TIFF (with a Q&A with Mr. Leigh and the cast)

lol he literally said at the QnA after the movie he never should’ve said this might be his last movie cuz now people won’t stop bringing it up

another classic tho he still got it