Those who spend their days helping others professionally are required to compartmentalize what they’re going through in their own lives and to be present for others whose problems may be infinitely more significant or feel completely overblown and unimportant. Restraining emotion to offer a delicate balance of care, compassion, and the appropriate distance from a potentially emotional situation are key skills needed, but not always possessed, by social workers specifically tasked with looking after those in need of help. In his latest film, Tender Loving Care, Mike Leigh showcases two selfless individuals stepping seamlessly between their personal and professional lives.
Rosie (Alice Bailey Johnson) and Amy (Kate O’Flynn) are longtime best friends who both work for the government in different capacities, Rosie as a social services officer and Amy as a child protection worker. They each have to contend not only with difficult and uncomfortable circumstances with their clients, but also a fear that, if they aren’t diligent and attentive to those most at risk, they may lose them. Once the workday is done, they’re able to focus on themselves as they both navigate disappointing romantic entanglements and Amy contends with not only nagging from her parents about her love life but also the deteriorating health of her father Geoff (Paul Jesson) and the effect that has on her mother Birdie (Marion Bailey).
Leigh is a filmmaker who has been working for more than half a century, specializing in stories of ordinary people going about their lives without major plot twists or catalytic events, handling the mundane and the extraordinary in similar fashion as they come up. Tender Loving Care is probably best compared to Another Year from his filmography, lacking the very present humorous undertones of Hard Truths or Happy-Go-Lucky or the severity of Vera Drake. Not all that much happens in this film, but what does feels real and lived-in, and more than substantial enough to structure a film around all of it.
Leigh is also well-known for his collaborations with exceptional actors, and despite the fact that only three of his performers have earned Oscar nominations for their efforts, there are a handful of others, namely Lesley Manville in Another Year and Marianne Jean-Baptiste in Hard Truths, who have surely come very close. This film offers two more brilliant opportunities in Bailey Johnson and O’Flynn, who are both so natural and charming. Watching them try to be self-deprecating is particularly endearing since they just seem too honest and nice, and it really does feel like they’ve been friends forever. Coming off her Emmy win for the ultra-popular Widow’s Bay, O’Flynn’s awards chances seem highest at the moment, but she and Bailey Johnson are equally deserving of praise.
There are a number of supporting players with small parts as the people Rosie and Amy work with on a daily basis, and those parts are well-cast. It’s an expected treat to see Bailey reteaming with her partner Leigh and to be playing the mother of her real-life daughter, Bailey Johnson. She and Jesson ensure that these two senior citizens, whose day-to-days look different from Rosie and Amy, still feel just as vital as a part of the story, even if they’re not meant to be the main characters. Leigh’s storytelling style is simple and direct, and this film, which is indeed tender and loving and about the care people provide to others and to themselves, is yet another instance of his effective filmmaking. In a world where flair and flourishes often denote the buzziest and most acclaimed films, his natural approach remains a formidable and worthwhile path to cinematic brilliance.
Movie Rating: 8/10
Tender Loving Care makes its New York premiere in the Main Slate at the 64th New York Film Festival and will be released theatrically by Bleecker Street on December 4th.
