Directors: Mike Leigh
Writer: Mike Leigh
Stars: Kate O’Flynn, Alice Bailey Johnson, Marion Bailey, Paul Jesson
Synopsis: Amy, a government child protection worker, moves back with her upbeat best friend Rosie, a social services officer facing daily anger and resentment. Amy’s aging parents worry about her happiness while dealing with their own crisis.
At the age of 83 and after a career spanning more than five decades, acclaimed filmmaker Mike Leigh is seemingly bowing out with his latest movie, Tender Loving Care; his supposed final swansong. If that is to be the case, this is a brilliant note to exit on. True to its title, it is a tender, heartfelt story that delves deeply into how we as humans have the capacity to take great care of one another while also offering a different perspective on how we sometimes don’t. The result is a rather profound experience that even manages to pack in a few laughs as well as tears along the way.
Tender Loving Care follows childhood best friends and social workers, Amy (Kate O’Flynn) and Rosie (Alice Bailey Johnson), who are living together following Amy’s rather unceremonious breakup. It’s seemingly the perfect scenario for the pair as they share wine, laughs, and stories from work while performing one of the most thankless jobs around in an increasingly underfunded government sector. Both are overworked to the point of exhaustion while also wrestling with the internal struggle of feeling like they aren’t even making a difference. That’s before getting into their personal troubles as they gossip about their tragic dating lives.
Leigh’s screenplay also allows audiences to spend time with Amy’s aging parents, Birdie (Marion Bailey) and Geoff (Paul Jesson), who are the most typical British old married couple you’ll ever likely see, but for all the right reasons. They spend their days worrying about Amy’s happiness and when, or if, grandchildren will ever actually surface. So the news that Amy is single again comes as something of a welcome shock, as her partners are humorously never deemed good enough. Newly single, Amy finds herself visiting more often and even brings along Rosie, allowing audiences to see all four delightfully share the screen together. That warmth takes on a different complexion, however, when Geoff begins to show signs of cognitive decline.
Through a somewhat familiar story, Leigh explores a variety of themes, all of which are handled with an immense amount of care. The family dynamics are given the time to organically progress, allowing audiences to develop a genuine affection for characters they’ve only just met thanks to some superb writing. Leigh also knows exactly when to simply let these characters talk, with some of the quieter moments and awkward silences proving to be the most effective. It ensures that when Geoff’s cognitive decline becomes apparent and part of the day-to-day lives of Birdie and Amy, it lands with an emotional gut punch that is bound to resonate with many audience members who have experienced something similar.
Leigh also provides some extremely poignant commentary on the state of the United Kingdom’s continually declining state-funded services, utilizing Amy and Rosie as a means of outlining just how severe the social crisis is becoming. It’s a particular battle for the frequently underappreciated social workers who find themselves targeted by abhorrent abuse while simply trying to do their jobs. It’s a stroke of genius to utilize what could be his final screenplay to highlight such pertinent issues gripping a nation. For those unaware of those struggles beforehand, they will be acutely aware of them by the end.
Some of the very best moments of the film come from its beautifully crafted dialogue. Leigh has this rare talent to, in one moment, create some of the hardest-hitting dramatic scenes simply through actors conversing, only to have you in stitches the next thanks to the effortless chemistry he is able to create. The humor never feels forced either, instead coming naturally from the relationships and personalities that Leigh has established. It ensures you’re in for an emotional rollercoaster of a ride, but it’s one you can’t help but be enamored by as your connection to the story and its characters is given the space to gradually develop.
Of course, for a movie like Tender Loving Care to work as well as it does, it relies heavily on its four leads, and every one of them steps up to the mark. You would be hard-pressed to find four performances all year that reach the levels this ensemble achieves. Kate O’Flynn, as the movie’s lead, is truly sensational. She finds the ideal balance between her wicked sense of humor and the necessary dramatic turns her character demands, with some of her acting through facial expressions alone verging on heartbreaking at times. Alice Bailey Johnson, as her partner in crime, is consistently asked to be the main source of comic relief, and it’s a challenge she more than rises to, showing exactly why she deserves a more prominent role in future projects.
Supporting our main duo are the wonderful Paul Jesson and Marion Bailey, who are equally outstanding. Bailey gets more screen time, playing a concerned mother and an increasingly devastated, loving wife as Geoff’s illness becomes clearer. It’s a multifaceted role that requires her to shift her emotions at the flick of a switch, and it’s a challenge she meets time and time again. Jesson, especially in the final act, has virtually the entire weight of the film’s emotional core on his shoulders. He handles Geoff’s changes incredibly well as his condition worsens, making some of the final moments incredibly difficult to watch.
Ultimately, Tender Loving Care is a desperate cry for humanity to show more compassion toward one another, and it feels like it has arrived at an incredibly pertinent time. That message is woven throughout the movie, whether it’s through Amy and Rosie’s friendship, Birdie’s love for Geoff, or the care both women continue to provide through their work despite everything being thrown at them. Given Leigh’s previous abundance of Academy Award nominations and just how exquisitely written this movie is, it’s hard to imagine a world where he isn’t in contention yet again. It would be a well-deserved send-off for an accomplished filmmaker and another brilliant, moving original that deserves to be experienced by the masses.
