Wendy finally cracks and loses that nervous laugh to tell Nicola a few home truths and break down the barriers that Nicola has put up between herself and the rest of the world.
I kinda feel like Nicola for most of the time and it's almost a religious duty to watch this scene like once a month to feel less desperate and to give me motivation, Because I can be happy in this life ! Hope you all doing great, we can do our best !
Thanks for sharing this. This one scene totally blew my mind when I saw this at the cinema in 1990. The emotion in this scene is off the scale. I was deeply moved by it as it touched a nerve in me, as it rang so true with how I felt myself. I genuinely never realised that there were films that could make you feel something so deeply, as all I had been used to seeing till then were relatively empty blockbusters. Mike Leigh opened up a whole world of cinema to me and I am forever grateful.
In a Mike Leigh film, a flawed or even silly person can, in a breathtaking scene, be revealed as the best mother, sister, brother, husband, father, child, or friend imaginable in that moment. And it unfolds like life. This is why he and his actors get away sometimes with "caricature." They know that looking ridiculous, not being able to see or hear yourself, is part of life too.
This hits home for me. I see a lot of this dynamic within my own family and it's heartbreaking for many reasons. This scene, along with so many directed by Mike Leigh, is so beautifully written and acted
I saw this in the theater 30 years ago and then not again until tonight. And it was remarkable the scenes I remembered close to exactly, all these years. So I guess for this one film "unforgettable" didn't mean "I really liked it." It meant I went half my life remembering it as if it were a set of scenes from my own real life.
This one scene has done more for troubled teens than all 4 seasons of 13 reasons why I reckon It definitely stopped me from kms when I was at the pinnacle of relapse 5 years ago binging movies that had a slither of ed in them and came across this
I think Mike Leigh is one of the Best Playwright's, Ever! The fact he let's the Actors Ad-Lib their own lines creates a natural unique real life feel. The Guy is a Genius, and the Actors are brilliant. A pleasure to watch.
I just discovered Mike Leigh and watched a few of his movies, including this. It’s wonderful to see so many people in the comments affected by this scene like I was. Perfect clash of two the most different characters imagined, coming together to sort a lifetime of challenges. Almost hard to believe that a movie as goofy as this one is at times also is capable of a moment like this.
you are having, or even not having fun with the silly little movie, with the crazy chef and his awful restaurant. then this poignant scene hits you like a brick
Any other film director would have had Wendy going up to Nicola, touching her and mellow out. Not getting that, the viewer is forced to realize how important it is to be close to each other, not let the other alienate.
