No such thing as domestic tranquility

All or Nothing

Starring Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville, Alison Garland,…

All or Nothing

Starring Timothy Spall, Lesley Manville, Alison Garland, James Corden

Directed by Mike Leigh

“All or Nothing” stars Lesley Manville as Penny Basset and Timothy Spall as her husband, Phil. There is a scene near the end of the film in which she says to Phil, in tears, “You used to make me laugh.”

This one scene is infused the essence of the entire film. Life, as the title suggests, is an all or nothing proposition – we can either take it or leave it as we see fit.

Like “Magnolia” or the films of John Sayles, “All or Nothing” is a character-driven picture featuring a large cast of colorful, well-developed characters. We meet three families in a world vividly created by director Mike Leigh.

There are Phil and Penny and their children, Rachel (Alison Garland) and Rory (James Corden). The children both live escapist existences – Rachel virtually lives at the retirement home where she works and Rory rarely budges from the couch in front of the television – while the parents split their time between dismal jobs and equally bleak private lives. In Phil’s case, this means days as a cab driver, staring straight ahead as drama unfolds in the back seat behind him, and nights at the pub imparting wisdom to his co-worker Ron (Paul Jesson). Penny works as a cashier at the local Saveway and on weekends suffers through karaoke night with her friends Maureen and Carol.

Maureen (Ruth Sheen), who also works at the Saveway, is a single mother. She lives with her daughter Donna (Helen Coker), who is involved in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend Jason (Daniel Mays). After work, she irons her neighbors’ clothes for extra money.

Carol (Marion Bailey), an alcoholic, lives in the same housing project as both Maureen and Penny, with Ron and their daughter Samantha (Sally Hawkins). There is no more to Ron’s personality than his work, and Samantha spends the movie lusting after Jason and dodging a creepy stalker named Craig (Ben Crompton). Carol weathers life’s storms by living inside a bottle.

While these characters share their economic and social situation, the way they each react to it registers differently along the spectrum suggested by the film’s title: Maureen lives as if the glass were half full, Carol’s glass is empty because she drank down whatever was in it, and Phil and Penny exist somewhere in between.

The film is about life and how we deal with it, so the characters on the extreme ends of this arc fall away and Phil and Penny logically emerge as the protagonists, having the most potential for development. The other storylines are resolved and then dropped and by the end of the film the Bassets are the only family left. This is maybe a little distracting, but it permits an uplifting ending not otherwise possible. The world depicted by Leigh is bleak, but by focusing on two characters that find in it hope he offers relief from the pessimistic tone.

“All or Nothing” succeeds precisely because it mirrors real life. This is not escapist fare. Accomplished ensemble acting and skillful writing and direction create a vivid, memorable realist film. If you want to escape life for a while, stay away, but if you want something to ponder, this may be exactly what you’re looking for.