Trivia

Before High Hopes (1988), director Mike Leigh had made Bleak Moments (1971), released in 1971, and Meantime (1983), released in 1983. This gap in his filmography was attributable in part to his process for creating films: When he applied for financial backing, he did not yet have finished scripts, preferring to allow actors, once they were hired, to use improvisation sessions to create the dialogue. As a result, given the absence of a concrete script, many potential financial backers were reluctant to support Leigh's work. For "High Hopes," that spelled doom until the British TV station Channel 4 stepped in and partially funded it. The result is one of the most moving and engaging films of the 1980s and an early masterwork in Leigh's catalog.

One theme displayed throughout High Hopes (1988) is that no two characters fully understand each other's perspectives or lives, with the sole exceptions of Cyril and Shirley. In a review for Sight & Sound, critic Gilbert Adair posits that the film's themes are akin to those of the writings of Auberon Waugh, in that both sought to portray the lifestyles of the working classes. However, Adair continued, whereas Waugh's goal was to encourage self-described liberal audiences to trust their inner fears of the working classes, Leigh's objective is to encourage audiences to instead trust their liberal ideals, not their fears of the working classes.

High Hopes (1988) was the winner of the Critics' Prize (FIPRESCI Prize) at the 1988 Venice Film Festival.

Founded in 1930, the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique) is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world for "the promotion and development of film culture and for the safeguarding of professional interests." Their prize is awarded at film festivals all over the world, including Cannes, Venice, Warsaw and Toronto.