Mrs. Thornley (Liz Smith) leads a rather miserable existence in Salford. She lives with her husband, Jim (Clifford Kershaw), a night custodian at a toy factory, and their grown daughter, Ann (Polly Hemingway). Mrs. Thornley is a maid who works for an imperious upper-middle class woman, Mrs. Stone (Vanessa Harris). Between her work and her home life, it seems like Mrs. Thornley is always cooking, cleaning, and fielding complaints. Jim spends most of his spare time at the pub, and is pretty cold to his wife, drunkenly demanding sex from her once a week on the night he's not working. Jim's efforts to ingratiate himself to his supervisor, Mr. Shaw (Keith Washington), are met with a stony lecture about dressing properly on the job. Ann, meanwhile, has been spending her time trying to arrange an abortion for her friend Julie (Linda Beckett) with the help of a friendly Pakistani taxi driver, Naseem (an early turn by Ben Kingsley). The couple's son, Edward (Bernard Hill, who would later play Théoden in Lord of the Rings) seems to care about his mum, but his wife, Veronica (Alison Steadman, in the first of many performances for writer/director Mike Leigh), is a snob who constantly harangues him about his manners and looks down on his family. Mrs. Thornley, beaten down by her wearying existence, eventually seeks solace from a local priest. Hard Labour, Leigh's follow-up to Bleak Moments, was originally produced for the BBC's Play for Today series. It features an appearance by Alan Erasmus (who would become a major figure in the Manchester pop scene), portrayed by Lennie James in Michael Winterbottom's 24 Hour Party People. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Review
Mike Leigh's Hard Labour is a glum look at lower-class British life in 1973. Leigh pulls no punches as it realistically explores the sexism and classism of the time and place, but, as usual, the filmmaker is more concerned with complex human drama than with any sort of didacticism. While Mrs. Thornley (Liz Smith), the lead character, is a sympathetic figure, her tormentors are also shown to be fully human with disappointments and troubles of their own. There is, for the most part, no black and white in Leigh's films -- just flawed individuals trying to navigate the social and economic land mines of their downtrodden existence. They often unwittingly add to their own misery, as when Mrs. Thornley chooses to blame her overwhelming domestic problems on herself, begging a priest to help her find forgiveness. The reaction of this relatively minor character to Mrs. Thornley's plight is indicative of Leigh's bracingly intricate approach to his subject matter. This type of exacting character study demands strong performances from the cast, and Leigh gets them. Smith is excellent as the quietly put-upon wife, while (Clifford Kershaw) is her equal as the noisily unhappy husband. The high level of the performance extends to the smallest roles in the film, and Ben Kingsley makes a noteworthy appearance as a Pakistani taxi driver, providing one of this profoundly sad film's sweeter moments. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
