Happy-Go-Lucky

Poppy (Sally Hawkins) is one those people that you meet that you have to ask, “What are you on?”  Essentially, she would probably just tell you, simply, “Life.”  Poppy, an exuberant and charming school teacher in London, has a vivacity about everything she does that is borderline in need of medication.  But that’s just the point: she isn’t in need of medication; it’s the rest of the world that needs to hop on board the Happy-Go-Lucky train, in order to see that life is indeed chock-full of pleasure and joy, despite often being fraught with difficulty.

Poppy’s story is fundamentally unexceptional.  She lives a very quite life in London, teaching young children, learning to drive at 30, with no love life to speak of, no mortgage (much to her sister’s chagrin), and the same flatmate for a decade.  Her life is, by all accounts, not something anyone would really want to put on film.  And that’s precisely why it is put on film.  Her life, and ours by extension, may have periods of unexceptionally dry spells, where we feel that each day is much the same, without a lot of drama or excitement.  Poppy revels in this ostensibly ordinary existence; she finds that her charisma and charm is simultaneously joyously magnetic and mind-numbingly irritating.  Her approach to life, that is, to each day, and to each moment within each day, is that life is precious, intended to be enjoyed as much as possible, and her goal seems to be to nudge everyone in this direction, to seeing life as she sees it, if only momentarily.

The plot is simple and unadorned.  Poppy teaches, learns to drive, and falls in love.  She finds her way through life in a kind of meandering labyrinthine sort of fashion that is inimitably hers; she one of those people you might describe by simply saying her name.  Oh, she’s just “Poppy.”  She’s also eponymously Happy-Go-Lucky, a phrase that fits her so perfectly as to be uncanny.  The directing is similarly unfestooned, giving the movie a very simple, lighthearted feel without glossing over the very real fact that sometimes life isn’t exactly “happy.”  The music can almost only be described as gleeful, bouncing around with Poppy and her daily forays.

What makes this movie enjoyable, besides the very subtle, moving, and riotously funny performance by Hawkins, is the message.  Your life may not always be exceptional because it’s exceptional, but it will always be exceptional because it’s yours.  There is something in Poppy we all need, I think, and after you watch this film, I think you’ll agree.

Rating: 3.5/4 Stars