High Hopes (film)

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High Hopes
Directed by Mike Leigh
Produced by Victor Glynn
Simon Channing-Williams
Written by Mike Leigh
Starring Philip Davis
Ruth Sheen
Edna Doré
Philip Jackson
Distributed by Skouras Films (USA release)
Release date(s) September 24, 1988
Running time 112 min
Country United Kingdom
Language English
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High Hopes is a 1988 film directed by Mike Leigh. The film is about a working-class family living in King's Cross, London.

The film centres around the couple Cyril (Philip Davis) and Shirley (Ruth Sheen), a motor-cycle courier and his girlfriend, and their friends, neighbours and family.

Cyril is a strong, old-style socialist who despairs of his working-class but Tory-voting mum, her yuppie neighbours, his social-climbing sister and her crass, car-salesman husband. Despite staying true to Leigh's down-at-heel realist style, the film is a rather knockabout comedy about the culture clashes between the different classes and belief-systems on display.

Cyril and Shirley are portrayed as the most decent characters in the film despite Cyril's irascibile nature. Theirs is a strong relationship, marred by Cyril's resentment that his cause is destined to be on the losing side in history.