Bleak Moments

Mike Leigh's 1971 debut feature grew out of his own stage play and establishes the method of his entire career. A secretary lives with her intellectually disabled sister; around her are a distant teacher boyfriend, an odd neighbour and an irritating colleague. The film does not recount events, it shows how badly these people manage to speak to each other. Leigh's method of building characters through rehearsal and improvisation begins here. Scenes are deliberately long: a tea-drinking scene runs for minutes and the silences are not filled. That produces the comedy and the pain at once. The British Film Institute and Memorial Films were among the production companies. The film won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival. Who it's for: viewers interested in British realism, Mike Leigh's cinema and films built on silence. Who it's not for: anyone wanting plot, or unable to sit with long, uncomfortable silences.