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High Hopes ()


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The life of a working class couple living in London and their complicated relationships with other members of the family.

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Cast verified as complete

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Cyril (as Philip Davis)
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Shirley
Edna Doré ...
Mrs Bender
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Martin
Heather Tobias ...
Valerie
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Lætitia
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Rupert
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Wayne
Judith Scott ...
Suzi
Cheryl Prime ...
Martin's Girlfriend
Diane-Louise Jordan ...
Chemist Shop Assistant
Linda Beckett ...
Receptionist
Ali ...
Baby
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Aidan Harrington ...
Man in Street (uncredited)

Directed by

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Mike Leigh

Written by

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Mike Leigh ... (written by)

Produced by

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Simon Channing Williams ... producer (produced by) (as Simon Channing-Williams)
Victor Glynn ... producer (produced by)

Music by

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Andrew Dickson

Cinematography by

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Roger Pratt ... director of photography

Editing by

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Jon Gregory

Production Design by

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Diana Charnley

Art Direction by

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Andrew Rothschild

Costume Design by

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Lindy Hemming

Makeup Department

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Morag Ross ... makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

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Howard Arundel ... first assistant director
Marc Munden ... second assistant director
Dom Shaw ... assistant director

Art Department

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Robin Heinson ... stand-by painter

Sound Department

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Steve Hancock ... studio sound technician
André Jacquemin ... sound recordist
Peter Joly ... dubbing editor
Peter Maxwell ... re-recording mixer
Billy McCarthy ... sound recordist
George Richards ... boom operator
Noel Wallace ... dubbing projectionist (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department

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Graham Martyr ... clapper loader

Costume and Wardrobe Department

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Debbie Scott ... assistant costume designer

Additional Crew

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John Paul Chapple ... production executive
Britt Harrison ... production co-ordinator

Thanks

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Simon Relph ... special thanks

Production Companies

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Distributors

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Special Effects

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Other Companies

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Storyline

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Plot Summary

The stories of a diverse group of Londoners is presented, they thrown together out of circumstance. Couple Cyril and Shirley, a motorcycle courier and gardener respectively, live in a flat overlooking Kings Cross Station. They generally espouse Marxism and the rights of the workers, and while Cyril is arguably more philosophical about their political views, he also doesn't believe that an uprising of the working class will ever happen. While they deal with their more militant friend Suzi who Cyril calls out for what he sees as her hypocritical attitude, and with a stranger named Wayne who has just arrived in the city for a job while unable to connect with his sister with who he was supposed to stay, they have a disagreement of their own as Shirl contemplates having a baby, which Cyril believes is a bad idea in this world. They rarely associate with Cyril's sister Valerie and her used car lot dealer husband Martin. Nouveau riche, narcissistic Valerie is all about presenting herself as well-off, while she is totally neglected by brash Martin, who is a chronic philanderer. Cyril, Shirl and Valerie only need to speak to each other in their respective interactions with Cyril and Valerie's seventy year old mother, Mrs. Bender, who still lives on her own in a council house, but who is just starting to show signs of dementia. Cyril, Shirl, Valerie and Mrs. Bender eventually meet the latter's relatively new neighbors, wealthy, snobbish and somewhat garish husband and wife Rupert and Lætitia. While Rupert and Lætitia are openly perturbed by needing to help helpless Mrs. Bender, which is only exacerbated by meeting the other three, Valerie can only do her best to ingratiate herself with people wealthier than her. Written by Huggo

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Additional Details

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Also Known As
  • Winter (United Kingdom)
  • Hohe Erwartungen (Germany)
  • Grandes ambiciones (Spain)
  • Grandes esperanzas (Spain)
  • 热望 (China, Mandarin title)
  • See more »
Runtime
  • 108 min
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Language
Color
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Filming Locations

Box Office

Budget GBP1,800,000 (estimated)

Did You Know?

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Trivia Before High Hopes (1988), director Mike Leigh had made Bleak Moments (1971), released in 1971, and Meantime (1983), released in 1983. This gap in his filmography was attributable in part to his process for creating films: When he applied for financial backing, he did not yet have finished scripts, preferring to allow actors, once they were hired, to use improvisation sessions to create the dialogue. As a result, given the absence of a concrete script, many potential financial backers were reluctant to support Leigh's work. For "High Hopes," that spelled doom until the British TV station Channel 4 stepped in and partially funded it. The result is one of the most moving and engaging films of the 1980s and an early masterwork in Leigh's catalog. See more »
Goofs After they come back from the opera, Lætitia sings the aria "La ci darem" to Rupert, which she claims was from the opera they just saw. They proceed to talk about the characters Susanna and Cherubino. However, these characters are from The Marriage of Figaro whereas the aria "La ci darem" is from Don Giovanni. See more »
Movie Connections Featured in Chances Are/Paperhouse/The 'Burbs/Bert Rigby, You're a Fool/High Hopes (1989). See more »
Soundtracks Poor Man's Prison See more »
Quotes Rupert Boothe-Braine: Now... what made this country great was a place for everyone, and everyone in his place. And this is my place.
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