At first glance, Mike Leigh’s Topsy-Turvy seems the oddball amongst the work of a filmmaker best known for the raw explorations of contemporary lower- and middle-class British life in Life Is Sweet, Secrets and Lies, Naked, Happy-Go-Lucky and more. A period piece set in Victorian London, the film looks at the often contentious relationship between Gilbert and Sullivan and the creation of their musical, The Mikado.  

Sally Hawkins’ performance in Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky is so free and sweet, so spontaneously unmannered and joyfully unaffected, that I found myself looking at her feet in various scenes. Were they really on the ground or was she walking on pure sunshine?