Last things, the poet Tess Gallagher wrote in a forward to her husband Raymond Carver’s final poetry collection, “have rights of their own. They don’t need us, but in our need of them we commemorate and make more real that finality which encircles us.” The singular British auteur Mike Leigh has said that his latest understated banger “Tender Loving Care,” would probably be his last film. And what a commemorative address Leigh has delivered. A timeless, somber, and silly work of art for fans, “Tender” is also a full meal served up to a pitch-perfect ensemble cast. In typical Leigh fashion, the writer/director blends dirty realism (a la Carver) with screwball-lite, pathos-heavy humor. Joining “Another Year” (2016) and “Happy-Go-Lucky” (2008)—high-water marks in Leigh’s six-decade movie career—“Tender” puts on a big, performative smile that only temporarily disguises the lingering emotional elephant in every room.
The subdued action, such as it is, starts in a hospital. Following a polite monologue in which social worker Rosie (Alice Bailey Johnson, the best performance among several equals, channeling Sally Hawkins’ Poppy in “Happy”) explains why the patient can no longer stay in the hospital. The patient, an older man who’s either unable or unwilling to speak, gives her a thumbs up, which might as well be a middle finger directed at Rosie’s pep or her employer’s rigid handbook. Later on at home, Rosie unwinds, preparing a “Welcome Home” sign and popping a champagne bottle for her best friend Amy (Kate O’Flynn, Emmy winner for “Widow’s Bay”), who recently split from her husband. The ladies are textbook plutonic soulmates: a little annoying, heavy on inside jokes, constantly hyping each other (Amy: “But you’re gorgeous!” Rosie: “I know!”) since their mostly-thankless day jobs and unreliable men chew them up.
Credible Emotion Amidst Sadness
When Amy admits that she can’t face her parents alone, Rosie offers her services (“Cheer up, you silly bitch!”), accompanying Amy to her childhood home, where she will surprise mum and dad with the break-up news. If Rosie and Kate provide the film’s youthful zeal, Birdie (Marion Bailey) and her husband Geoff (Paul Jesson) are its wise, aspirational core. Birdie and Geoff privately celebrate Amy’s independence, while also worrying about her work stress (she’s also a social worker) and happiness. Oh, but better believe Birdie and Geoff have their own problems, don’t they, love? When Geoff exhibits early signs of dementia, the three women gather as if brought together by a magnetic forcefield. In a few grueling sequences (all inside Geoff’s bedroom), Leigh unobtrusively conveys Geoff’s confusion, Birdie’s voracious caretaking and the overriding finality that drifts over all four characters bearing witness.
Watching “Tender,” it occurred to me that the film would be a fitting coda to an imaginary Leigh trilogy, with prior entrants “Happy” and “Year.” Birdie and Geoff, like the happy couple in “Year,” defy the crotchety and/or cute-as-buttons old married couple trope, maintaining optimistic worldviews, private pleasures and social, public lives. Occasionally, of course, a friend shows up for tea. In a key sequence, a widowed friend (played by Tilly Vosburgh) breaks down at the mention of her husband and the estranged son who didn’t show up to the funeral. The joint effort to lift the friend’s spirits (You were a great mom! And what a turn-out!) is credibly portrayed, a mixture of uncomfortable silences and solemn glances shared while the friend continues to weep.
Leigh’s Last… but Closer to Best
Soon after, Amy sings a eulogy of sorts to Geoff at his bedside, crooning through her tears in order to hit all the right notes of“Great Pretender,” their favorite song (“… pretending that I’m doing well!”). Birdie and Rosie provide the ooh-ooh, because what would that song—or Amy’s life—be without them? It would have been a great closing scene—the fearless foursome united in grief and acceptance—but Leigh doesn’t allow mere greatness to be the enemy of perfection. For the final bow, Cinematographer Lucy Bristow (stepping in for the late Dick Pope, to whom “Tender” is dedicated) fixes the camera on the bearded, reddened face of the same hospital patient who opened the film. Seated on a sidewalk stoop—possibly his home—Bristow simply holds and observes for an extended, excruciating minute, zooming in closer and then fading to the credits.
Offering no judgment or solution, “Tender” signs off on a note that’s true to both the film and Leigh’s loose artistic and rigid thematic principles. A startling and unabashedly political film, “Tender” conjures Leigh’s contemporary Ken Loach while remaining stubbornly independent, signaling towards the full suite of its creator’s preoccupations: bleak moments, hard truths, secrets and lies. But also, flawed systems and the people who break first when a safety net tears open. Viva Mike Leigh! A canonical, unconventional humanist who once more has assembled a superb smattering of collaborators who rise to and above this bittersweet occasion. Leigh’s “Tender” might be his last, but it’s far closer to best than least.
“Tender Loving Care,” a Bleecker Street release, is making its New York premiere at the New York Film Festival. For screening dates, follow the festival here.
