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High Hopes

High Hopes

Comedy · Drama · 1989

Working-class couple Shirley and Cyril are in conflict over whether they should have children, their problems with 'yuppies' moving into the neighbourhood and outpricing them, and the advent of Cyril's ageing mother's seventieth birthday.

Movie details

High Hopes

1989 Comedy · Drama 1h 48m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.4 / 10

5.9K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

92 %

Tomatometer

Metacritic

84 / 100

Metascore

TMDB

7.0 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Working-class couple Shirley and Cyril are in conflict over whether they should have children, their problems with 'yuppies' moving into the neighbourhood and outpricing them, and the advent of Cyril's ageing mother's seventieth birthday.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over High Hopes?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Mike Leigh

Written by

Mike Leigh

Phil Davis

Phil Davis

Cyril Bender

Ruth Sheen

Ruth Sheen

Shirley

Edna Doré

Edna Doré

Mrs Bender

Philip Jackson

Philip Jackson

Martin Burke

Heather Tobias

Heather Tobias

Valerie

Lesley Manville

Lesley Manville

Lætitia Boothe-Brain

David Bamber

David Bamber

Rupert Boothe-Brain

Court is in session

Put High Hopes on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.