Another Year (2010 film)
Encyclopedia
Another Year is a 2010 British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 written and directed by Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh
Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...

, starring Lesley Manville
Lesley Manville
Lesley Manville is an award-winning English actress.-Early life:Born in Brighton, Manville was raised in Hove, East Sussex, one of three daughters of a taxicab driver. Training as a soprano singer from age 8, she twice became under-18 champion of Sussex...

, Jim Broadbent
Jim Broadbent
James "Jim" Broadbent is an English theatre, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in Iris, Moulin Rouge!, Topsy-Turvy, Hot Fuzz, and Bridget Jones' Diary...

 and Ruth Sheen
Ruth Sheen
Ruth Sheen is an English actress.Born in London, Sheen began her career by training at the East 15 Acting School, and has appeared regularly on British television and in British films since 1988. On television, she had recurring roles as Nanny Simmons in Berkeley Square , and as Nurse Ethel Carr...

. It premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival
2010 Cannes Film Festival
The 63rd annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 12 to May 23, 2010, in Cannes, France. The Cannes Film Festival, hailed as being one of the most recognized and prestigious film festivals worldwide, was founded in 1946. It consists of having films screened in and out of competition during the...

 in competition for the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...

. It played at the 54th London Film Festival
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...

 before its general British release date on 5 November 2010. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for best original screenplay
Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. Before 1940, there was an Academy Award for Best Story for writing. For 1940, it and the award in this article were separated into two awards. Beginning with the...

.

Plot

Tom Hepple, a geologist, and Gerri Hepple, a counsellor, are an older married couple who have a comfortable, loving relationship. The film observes them over the course of the four seasons of a year, surrounded by family and friends who mostly suffer some degree of unhappiness.

Gerri's friend and colleague, Mary, works as a receptionist at the health centre. She is a middle-aged divorcee seeking a new relationship, and despite telling everyone she is happy, appears desperate and depressed. She often seems to drink too much
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

.

The Hepples' only child, Joe, is 30 and unmarried and works as a solicitor giving advice on housing.

In the summer the Hepples are visited by Ken, Tom's old friend from his student days. Ken is overweight, eats and drinks compulsively and seems very unhappy. Tom and Gerri host a barbecue in Ken's honour. Mary drives her newly bought car to the party, but gets lost and arrives late. Having had some wine, she flirts with Joe, whom she has known since he was a child. He remains friendly but does not reciprocate the flirtation. After the party, Mary reluctantly gives Ken a lift to the train station. He makes a clumsy romantic advance and Mary irritably rejects him.

Months later, in the autumn, Mary is once again at Tom and Gerri's home. Joe arrives with a new girlfriend, Katie. Mary appears rude and hostile towards Katie, which is not appreciated by Tom and Gerri. This creates a rift between Gerri and Mary.

In the winter Tom, Gerri, and Joe attend the funeral for the wife of Tom's brother, Ronnie. Towards the end of the service, Ronnie's estranged son, Carl, arrives, and angrily asks why the ceremony was not delayed for him. At the reception at Ronnie's house, Carl becomes aggressive and walks out. Tom and Gerri invite Ronnie back to London to stay to with them for a while and Ronnie agrees.

While Tom and Gerri are at their garden allotment Mary arrives unannounced at their home and persuades Ronnie to let her in. Her car has just been written off and she is upset. The two have a cup of tea and a desultory chat before Mary takes a nap on the couch. When Tom and Gerri return they are unhappy to find Mary at their house. Gerri explains to Mary that she feels let down by her earlier behaviour towards Katie. Mary apologises and weeps. Gerri gradually extends a degree of warmth to Mary, suggesting that she should seek professional help and inviting her to stay for dinner, and the two women set the table. Joe and Katie arrive, their relationship still appearing strong and happy. The Hepples enjoy dinner together. Mary eats with them but appears lost and uncertain.

Cast

  • Lesley Manville
    Lesley Manville
    Lesley Manville is an award-winning English actress.-Early life:Born in Brighton, Manville was raised in Hove, East Sussex, one of three daughters of a taxicab driver. Training as a soprano singer from age 8, she twice became under-18 champion of Sussex...

     as Mary
  • Jim Broadbent
    Jim Broadbent
    James "Jim" Broadbent is an English theatre, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in Iris, Moulin Rouge!, Topsy-Turvy, Hot Fuzz, and Bridget Jones' Diary...

     as Tom Hepple
  • Ruth Sheen
    Ruth Sheen
    Ruth Sheen is an English actress.Born in London, Sheen began her career by training at the East 15 Acting School, and has appeared regularly on British television and in British films since 1988. On television, she had recurring roles as Nanny Simmons in Berkeley Square , and as Nurse Ethel Carr...

     as Gerri Hepple
  • Peter Wight as Ken
  • Oliver Maltman
    Oliver Maltman
    Oliver Maltman is a British actor notable for his appearances in the TV series Star Stories, The Kevin Bishop Show, No Heroics and Clone. He has also appeared in Mike Leigh's films Happy-Go-Lucky in 2008 and Another Year in 2010....

     as Joe Hepple
  • David Bradley
    David Bradley (actor)
    David Bradley is an English character actor. He has recently become known for playing the caretaker of Hogwarts, Argus Filch, in the Harry Potter film franchise.-Life and career :...

     as Ronnie Hepple
  • Karina Fernandez
    Karina Fernandez
    Karina Fernandez is a British actress of Spanish descent. She is best known for her performances in two of Mike Leigh's films - Another Year and Happy-Go-Lucky.-Theatre:...

     as Katie
  • Martin Savage
    Martin Savage (actor)
    Martin Savage is a British film, stage and television actor.He appeared in both seasons of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's television series Extras as camp scriptwriter Damon Beesley and in The Thick of It television series specials as Nick Hanway...

     as Carl Hepple
  • Michele Austin
    Michele Austin
    Michele Austin is a British actress best known for her role as PC Yvonne Hemmingway on ITV's The Bill, for which she won the Screen Nation award for best television actress in 2005....

     as Tanya
  • Philip Davis as Jack
  • Stuart McQuarrie
    Stuart McQuarrie
    Stuart McQuarrie is an actor who has starred in multiple acclaimed films, including Trainspotting and 28 Days Later. In 2008, McQuarrie starred in the film Ecstasy based on The Undefeated from Irvine Welsh's best-selling novel Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance...

     as Tom's colleague
  • Imelda Staunton
    Imelda Staunton
    Imelda Mary Philomena Bernadette Staunton, OBE is an English actress. She is perhaps best known for her performances in the British comedy television series Up the Garden Path, the Harry Potter film series and Vera Drake...

     as Janet

Production

Because of the death in 2009 of the director's usual producer Simon Channing-Williams
Simon Channing-Williams
Simon Channing-Williams was a British film producer. He was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire. He formed Thin Man Productions with Mike Leigh...

, Another Year was produced by Georgina Lowe
Georgina Lowe
Georgina Lowe is a British television producer whose notable works include the BBC adaptation of Tipping the Velvet, Fingersmith and Vera Drake. She has produced three series of the ITV1 drama Kingdom and is currently working with Mike Leigh on his new film.She has two daughters, Matilda and...

, who had worked regularly on Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh
Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...

 films since Naked
Naked (film)
Naked is a 1993 British film directed by Mike Leigh. Before this film, Leigh was known for subtler comedic dissections of middle-class and working-class manners. Naked was more stark and brutal than his previous works...

(1993). Thin Man Films led the production together with television channel Film4
Film4
Film4 is a free digital television channel available in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned and operated by Channel 4, that screens films.-Programming:...

 and Focus Features International
Focus Features
Focus Features is the art house films division of NBC Universal's Universal Pictures, and acts as both a producer and distributor for its own films and a distributor for foreign films....

. The project received £1.2 million from the UK Film Council
UK Film Council
The UK Film Council was set up in 2000 by the Labour Government as a non-departmental public body to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee governed by a board of 15 directors and was funded through sources including the...

. The production involved a budget of around US $8 million, which Leigh said was "the lowest budget I've had for a long time".

Most of Another Years key cast members had already worked with the director multiple times. Leigh collaborated with the actors for five months to create their characters and world and to do research. The director employed his usual technique: the actors improvise extensively during rehearsals, and the result of those improvisations becomes the basis of the final script. Principal photography took 12 weeks. To simulate the four seasons of a year, cinematographer Dick Pope
Dick Pope (cinematographer)
Richard "Dick" Pope, B.S.C. is a British cinematographer who has worked numerous times with British film director Mike Leigh. He is most recently known for the cinematography in The Illusionist directed by Neil Burger, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award.- As Cinematographer:* Women...

 used four different film stock
Film stock
Film stock is photographic film on which filmmaking of motion pictures are shot and reproduced. The equivalent in television production is video tape.-1889–1899:...

s, and much attention was paid to details in the props so that the passage of time would appear believable.

The location used for Tom and Gerri Hepple's house is St Margaret’s Road, Wanstead
Wanstead
Wanstead is a suburban area in the London Borough of Redbridge, North-East London. The main road going through Wanstead is the A12. The name is from the Anglo-Saxon words wænn and stede, meaning "settlement on a small hill"....

, East London.

Reception

The film was extremely well received by critics. According to review aggregation website, Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

, 92% of critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 8.2 out of 10 from 154 reviews. The film debuted at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival
2010 Cannes Film Festival
The 63rd annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 12 to May 23, 2010, in Cannes, France. The Cannes Film Festival, hailed as being one of the most recognized and prestigious film festivals worldwide, was founded in 1946. It consists of having films screened in and out of competition during the...

 in competition for the Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...

 and although it failed to receive any prizes, it was well received, scoring an 3.4/4 average at Screen International
Screen International
Screen International is a multimedia film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by EMAP, a British b2b media company.The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global movie business...

's annual Cannes Jury Grid, which polls international film critics from publications such as Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound
Sight & Sound is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute .Sight & Sound was first published in 1932 and in 1934 management of the magazine was handed to the nascent BFI, which still publishes the magazine today...

, The Australian
The Australian
The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....

, Positif
Positif (magazine)
Positif is a French film magazine, founded in 1952 by Bernard Chardère. It was published by Eric Losfeld.It often acted as a counterpoint to Cahiers du cinéma, another well-known French film journal, notably with Gerard Gozlan's article sarcastically titled "In Praise of André Bazin."The current...

, L'Unità
L'Unità
l'Unità is an Italian left-wing newspaper, originally founded as official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party.-History:L'Unità was founded by Antonio Gramsci on 12 February 1924, as the newspaper of workers and peasants, the official newspaper of Italian Communist Party : it was printed in...

and Der Tagesspiegel
Der Tagesspiegel
Der Tagesspiegel is a classical liberal German daily newspaper...

.

Wendy Ide of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

described the film as "Leigh at his confident best" and "a disarmingly humane work", writing, "Mike Leigh shows admirable restraint: there are no manufactured crescendos, just a melancholy refrain that builds to its raw realisation in an achingly sad final shot." Xan Brooks of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

described Another Year as "a rare treat", and Geoffrey Macnab of The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

described the film as "an acutely well-observed study of needy and unhappy people desperately trying to make sense of their lives."

Accolades

Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) Result
Academy Awards
83rd Academy Awards
The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2010 and took place February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, Academy Awards ...

27 February 2011 Best Original Screenplay
Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. Before 1940, there was an Academy Award for Best Story for writing. For 1940, it and the award in this article were separated into two awards. Beginning with the...

Mike Leigh
Mike Leigh
Michael "Mike" Leigh, OBE is a British writer and director of film and theatre. He studied theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and studied further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid 1960s...

British Academy Film Awards
64th British Academy Film Awards
The 64th British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs, were held on 13 February 2011 honouring the best national and foreign films of 2010. The nominees were announced on 18 January 2011. The King's Speech earned the most nominations with fourteen...

21 February 2011 Best Supporting Actress
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Best Actress in a Supporting Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding supporting performance in a film...

Lesley Manville
Lesley Manville
Lesley Manville is an award-winning English actress.-Early life:Born in Brighton, Manville was raised in Hove, East Sussex, one of three daughters of a taxicab driver. Training as a soprano singer from age 8, she twice became under-18 champion of Sussex...

Best British Film
BAFTA Award for Best Film
This page lists the winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language and Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for each year, in addition to the retired earlier versions of those awards...

British Independent Film Awards
British Independent Film Awards 2010
The 13th British Independent Film Awards, was held on 5 December 2010 at The Brewery in West London, honouring the best British independent films of 2010.-Best British Independent Film:* The King's Speech* Four Lions* Kick-Ass...

5 December 2010 Best Director Mike Leigh
Best Actress Ruth Sheen
Ruth Sheen
Ruth Sheen is an English actress.Born in London, Sheen began her career by training at the East 15 Acting School, and has appeared regularly on British television and in British films since 1988. On television, she had recurring roles as Nanny Simmons in Berkeley Square , and as Nurse Ethel Carr...

Best Actor Jim Broadbent
Jim Broadbent
James "Jim" Broadbent is an English theatre, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in Iris, Moulin Rouge!, Topsy-Turvy, Hot Fuzz, and Bridget Jones' Diary...

Best Supporting Actress Lesley Manville
Lesley Manville
Lesley Manville is an award-winning English actress.-Early life:Born in Brighton, Manville was raised in Hove, East Sussex, one of three daughters of a taxicab driver. Training as a soprano singer from age 8, she twice became under-18 champion of Sussex...

Cannes Film Festival
2010 Cannes Film Festival
The 63rd annual Cannes Film Festival was held from May 12 to May 23, 2010, in Cannes, France. The Cannes Film Festival, hailed as being one of the most recognized and prestigious film festivals worldwide, was founded in 1946. It consists of having films screened in and out of competition during the...

23 May 2010 Palme d'Or
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival and is presented to the director of the best feature film of the official competition. It was introduced in 1955 by the organising committee. From 1939 to 1954, the highest prize was the Grand Prix du Festival International du...

Chicago Film Critics Association Awards
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2010
The 22nd Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, honoring the best in film for 2010, were announced on December 20, 2010.-Best Actor:Colin Firth – The King's Speech*Jeff Bridges – True Grit*Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network...

20 December 2010 Best Actress Lesley Manville
European Film Awards
European Film Awards 2010
-Winners and nominees:The nominations for the 23rd European Film Awards were announced on 6 November at the Seville European Film Festival.-Best Film: The Ghost Writer – Roman Polanski • France/Germany/United Kingdom ...

4 December 2010 Best Actress
European Film Award for Best Actress
-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:-External links:*...

Lesley Manville
Best European Composer Gary Yershon
Gary Yershon
Gary Yershon is an English composer.Yershon was born in London. He is one of a group of composers who have little or no concert or commercial recording career, but whose nevertheless prolific output is evidenced for the most part in UK theatre souvenir programs. Others in this group include Paddy...

London Film Critics Circle Awards
London Film Critics Circle Awards 2010
The nominees for the 31st London Film Critics Circle Awards, honouring the best in film for 2010 were announced by the London Film Critics Circle on December 20, 2010.-Actor of the Year:*Jeff Bridges – True Grit*Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network...

10 February 2011 Best British Actor Jim Broadbent
Best British Actress Lesley Manville
Best British Actress Ruth Sheen
Best British Director Mike Leigh
Best British Film
Best British Supporting Actor David Bradley
David Bradley (actor)
David Bradley is an English character actor. He has recently become known for playing the caretaker of Hogwarts, Argus Filch, in the Harry Potter film franchise.-Life and career :...

Best British Supporting Actor Peter Wight
London Film Festival Awards 27 October 2010 Best Film
National Board of Review Awards
National Board of Review Awards 2010
The 82nd National Board of Review Awards, honoring the best in film for 2010.All films are in alphabetical order-Top Films:films listed alphabetically except top, which is ranked as Best Film of the year*The Social Network...

2 December 2010 Top Ten Film
Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures Award for Best Actress is one of the annual film awards given by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.-1940s:-1950s:- 1960s :- 1970s :- 1980s :- 1990s :- 2000s :-2010s:...

Lesley Manville
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards
San Diego Film Critics Society Awards 2010
-Best Actor:Colin Farrell – Ondine*Aaron Eckhart – Rabbit Hole*Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network*Colin Firth – The King's Speech*James Franco – 127 Hours-Best Actress:...

14 December 2010 Best Supporting Actress
San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress
The San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award given by the San Diego Film Critics Society to honor the finest female acting achievementes in filmmaking.-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...

Lesley Manville
Best Ensemble Cast
San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
The San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Animated Feature is an annual film award given by the San Diego Film Critics Society.-2000s:-2010s:...

Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards 2010
The 9th Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards 2010 were given out on December 6, 2010.-Winners and nominees:*Best Film:**The Social Network*127 Hours*Black Swan*Inception*Toy Story 3*Best Director:...

6 December 2010 Best Original Screenplay
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Screenplay
The Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Original Screenplay is one of the annual film awards given by the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association.-2000s:-2010s:...

Mike Leigh
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