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Bleak Moments

  • 1971
  • 1h 51m
IMDb RATING
6.9/10
1.9K
YOUR RATING
Bleak Moments (1971)
ComedyDrama

Moments from the uncompromisingly-bleak existence of a secretary, her intellectually-disabled sister, her aloof teacher boyfriend, a bizarre neighbor, and an irritating workmate.Moments from the uncompromisingly-bleak existence of a secretary, her intellectually-disabled sister, her aloof teacher boyfriend, a bizarre neighbor, and an irritating workmate.Moments from the uncompromisingly-bleak existence of a secretary, her intellectually-disabled sister, her aloof teacher boyfriend, a bizarre neighbor, and an irritating workmate.

  • Director
    • Mike Leigh
  • Writer
    • Mike Leigh
  • Stars
    • Anne Raitt
    • Sarah Stephenson
    • Eric Allan
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.9/10
    1.9K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Mike Leigh
    • Writer
      • Mike Leigh
    • Stars
      • Anne Raitt
      • Sarah Stephenson
      • Eric Allan
    • 20User reviews
    • 15Critic reviews
    • 71Metascore
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 1 nomination total

    Photos8

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    Top cast30

    Edit
    Anne Raitt
    • Sylvia
    Sarah Stephenson
    • Hilda
    Eric Allan
    • Peter
    Joolia Cappleman
    • Pat
    Mike Bradwell
    • Norman
    Liz Smith
    Liz Smith
    • Pat's Mother
    Malcolm Smith
    • Norman's Friend
    Donald Sumpter
    Donald Sumpter
    • Norman's Friend
    Christopher Martin
    • Sylvia's Boss
    Linda Beckett
    • Remedial Trainee
    Sandra Bolton
    • Remedial Trainee
    Stephen Churchett
    Stephen Churchett
    • Remedial Trainee
    Una Brandon-Jones
    • Supervisor
    Ronald Eng
    • Waiter
    Reginald Stewart
    • Man in Restaurant
    Susan Glanville
    • Enthusiastic Teacher
    Joanna Dickens
    • Stout Teacher
    Christopher Leaver
    • Wine Merchant
    • Director
      • Mike Leigh
    • Writer
      • Mike Leigh
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews20

    6.91.8K
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    Featured reviews

    8enoid801

    Awkward Moments

    Mike Leigh is the undisputed king of the awkward moment. He takes a this cinematic staple and extrapolates it into clenching agonies of time. In some of his films, Leigh allows the unease to build up to a crescendo, and in other films he simply lets it simmer. It's safe to say the awkward silence is something of a Leigh trademark, and in this film we are given a searing, painful stretch involving five pathologically shy people.

    Sylvia is an attractive yet shy working-class woman caring for her mentally disabled sister, Hilda. Her well-meaning harridan of a workmate pitches in to help from time to time, but Sylvia knows this woman is a credulous boob. There's a teacher down the street, also shy to the point of being socially inept. He likes Hilda, but that dog won't hunt, so he takes a shine to Sylvia.

    Will either of these two break through their timidity? Will anyone get face to face and come down to brass tacks? If Leigh's vision of stodgy English reserve and working class ennui has anything to say about it, we can assume it's not likely...

    This slow and bleak film isn't for everyone, but it helps one understand the foundations that Leigh created early in his career.
    10sgoldgaber

    Insightful

    The characters in Mike Leigh's films live in different, often isolated worlds. Some haltingly, painfully attempt to communicate and relate to one another. Others just blindly or blithely drift by. There is some caring, often much misunderstanding. In Leigh's later films the characters come to some reconciliation, but there is no such relief for them here. The movie is, true to its name, bleak.

    Tom Noonan's "What Happened Was", which is highly recommended to anyone who likes this film, is really a working out of one critical "coffee and sherry" scene in Bleak Moments.

    One of the best films I've seen in recent years. 10/10
    bobsgrock

    Soft, nervous and quietly powerful drama.

    Mike Leigh's directorial debut remains some forty years later a powerful story which focuses on the ordinary living of a group of Londoners trying to carve out some meager semblance of existence. The true conflict resides within: nearly all of the characters Leigh centralizes on have some form of deep-set emotional turmoil raging inside of them. Sylvia, the main character who lives alone while caring for her mentally handicapped sister and working at a secretarial job she doesn't care for, seems not only disappointed in her life but also helpless in any way to improve upon her current situation.

    She attempts to start up some kind of relationship with Peter, a shy and introspective schoolteacher but he seems even more apprehensive and cautious than she. Added to this mix are Pat, a rather talkative friend from work with her own set of issues, and Norm, a really odd but likable hippie-type living next door to Sylvia who attracts her through his gentility and musical ability.

    Leigh's ability to probe deep within these characters and expose their innermost pain and turmoil is truly astonishing to see. So much is said with a facial gesture or expression of the eyes. Silence dominates the conversations of these people, leaving the audience ample time to study the atmosphere of the situation and the long-term results of such behavior. Certainly this is a stunning debut and lays the groundwork for future works exploring even further the inner workings of human relations.
    sami-11

    An excellent film

    Bleak Moments, by Mike Leigh, is an outstanding piece of modern cinema. The characterisation in his first film for the big screen is rich, and as always Leigh mixes the serious and dramatic elements of his film with realism and humour. The film focuses on a woman caring for her mentally retarded sister whilst trying to strike up a relationship with an inhibited schoolteacher. The film avoids unnecessary sentimentality; the relationship between the characters seems as much taken from reality as from dramatic creation.

    Some of the film's inherent humour is tremendous, but most noticeable is its accurate but dramatic portrayal of life through the characters' eyes. Mike Leigh may have made more accessible films later on, but this is as good as any of his later works.
    8christopher-underwood

    perhaps not as bleak as it looks

    At one time I believe this was thought as Loving Moments and at the end of the film it thinks that it maybe should be but certainly from the beginning it is very Bleak Moments. The woman is Sylvia the beautiful and smiling luminously as like a Mona Lisa to those around her. She lives alone with her 29 year old sister, Hilda whose is mentally challenged. There is a drifter, Norman he pretends to play guitar and camps in Sylvia's garage although he sometimes goes inside and has a cup of tea, a fag and perhaps a few nuts, maybe five or two. Pat works with Sylvia in an office and she lives with her bedridden mother but would rather have Sylvia's sister instead. The other star is Peter who would like to chat with Sylvia but it seems that even he can't get on better than anyone else. It is all rather uncompromising but maybe the people along will get on as it seems and that there appears it me perhaps not as bleak as it looks.

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    Related interests

    Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
    Comedy
    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Directorial debut of Mike Leigh.
    • Quotes

      Peter: Which do you find easier, eh, watching television or radio?

      Sylvia: I find it easier watching the radio.

    • Crazy credits
      "Any similarity between characters in this film and persons living or dead is entirely intentional."
    • Connections
      Featured in Arena: Mike Leigh Making Plays (1982)
    • Soundtracks
      Nocturne E flat Opus 9 #2
      (uncredited)

      Music by Frédéric Chopin

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    FAQ14

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 25, 1972 (United Kingdom)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Freudlose Augenblicke
    • Filming locations
      • Streatham, Lambeth, London, England, UK(Sylvia's workplace)
    • Production companies
      • Autumn Productions
      • Memorial Enterprises
      • British Film Institute (BFI) Production Board
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 51m(111 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.66 : 1

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