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Bleak Moments
Bleak Moments is a 1971 British comedy-drama film by Mike Leigh in his directorial debut. Leigh's screenplay is based on a 1970 stage play at the Open Space Theatre, about the dysfunctional life of a young secretary.
Sylvia leads a quiet life caring for her sister Hilda who has complex care needs. Their lonely suburban existence is accentuated by a social awkwardness that detaches them from the community and fuels a life of seclusion and despair.
The film is based on a stage play which presented at the Open Space Theatre in March 1970. Leigh says the play was created in three weeks. He cast George Coulouris as Sylvia's father but he left after four days.
The Daily Telegraph said "the actors succeed in creating an atmosphere of tangible discomfort but what they ultimately assemble is a subjective sketch, not a description or even a statement on the problem of verbal communication. Leigh invited Tony Garnett to come and see the play and Garnett was encouraging about Leigh's desire to go into films.
Following the play, Leigh had an unhappy experience directing Earl Cameron in a production of Gallileo in Bermuda, after which he resolved only to work on his own material.
Leigh and Leslie Blair had formed their own production company, Autumn Productions, and Leigh wanted to adapt Moments. He was able to realise that desire when Albert Finney and Michael Medwin's Memorial Films, which had recently made If.... and was about to produce Gumshoe, "delivered the main financial backing, as well as unused spare bits of film rolls." Finney visited the actors during rehearsal. Leigh later said Memorial provided £14,000 and put in more money during post production when the filmmakers ran out.
The BFI is credited on the movie. Bruce Beresford was on the board at the time, had seen the play, and was encouraging of Leigh's plans to turn it into a movie. Leigh explains:
In order for it to be an 'official experimental film'... to be registered as a BFI experiment, it had to be a BFI film, and being an 'official experiment' meant that you didn't have to pay union rates. So, everybody who worked on the film, no matter what department and including the actors, did it for £20 a week. That was the deal and that's how we got to make the picture for £18,500 — 35 mm, 111 minutes, Eastmancolour and costing peanuts. But the thing was that the minimum amount that the BFI, in their rules, could put into a film was £100 and their contribution to the budget of Bleak Moments was £100, which made it possible to make the film.
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Bleak Moments
Bleak Moments is a 1971 British comedy-drama film by Mike Leigh in his directorial debut. Leigh's screenplay is based on a 1970 stage play at the Open Space Theatre, about the dysfunctional life of a young secretary.
Sylvia leads a quiet life caring for her sister Hilda who has complex care needs. Their lonely suburban existence is accentuated by a social awkwardness that detaches them from the community and fuels a life of seclusion and despair.
The film is based on a stage play which presented at the Open Space Theatre in March 1970. Leigh says the play was created in three weeks. He cast George Coulouris as Sylvia's father but he left after four days.
The Daily Telegraph said "the actors succeed in creating an atmosphere of tangible discomfort but what they ultimately assemble is a subjective sketch, not a description or even a statement on the problem of verbal communication. Leigh invited Tony Garnett to come and see the play and Garnett was encouraging about Leigh's desire to go into films.
Following the play, Leigh had an unhappy experience directing Earl Cameron in a production of Gallileo in Bermuda, after which he resolved only to work on his own material.
Leigh and Leslie Blair had formed their own production company, Autumn Productions, and Leigh wanted to adapt Moments. He was able to realise that desire when Albert Finney and Michael Medwin's Memorial Films, which had recently made If.... and was about to produce Gumshoe, "delivered the main financial backing, as well as unused spare bits of film rolls." Finney visited the actors during rehearsal. Leigh later said Memorial provided £14,000 and put in more money during post production when the filmmakers ran out.
The BFI is credited on the movie. Bruce Beresford was on the board at the time, had seen the play, and was encouraging of Leigh's plans to turn it into a movie. Leigh explains:
In order for it to be an 'official experimental film'... to be registered as a BFI experiment, it had to be a BFI film, and being an 'official experiment' meant that you didn't have to pay union rates. So, everybody who worked on the film, no matter what department and including the actors, did it for £20 a week. That was the deal and that's how we got to make the picture for £18,500 — 35 mm, 111 minutes, Eastmancolour and costing peanuts. But the thing was that the minimum amount that the BFI, in their rules, could put into a film was £100 and their contribution to the budget of Bleak Moments was £100, which made it possible to make the film.