Another Year

Synopsis: A married couple who have managed to remain blissfully happy into their autumn years, are surrounded over the course of the four seasons of one average year by friends, colleagues, and family who all seem to suffer some degree of unhappiness.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Director(s): Mike Leigh
Production: Sony Classics
  Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 22 wins & 53 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.3
Metacritic:
80
Rotten Tomatoes:
92%
PG-13
Year:
2010
129 min
$3,200,000
Website
532 Views


So how long's this been going on for?

I don't know.

A few weeks?

- A long time.

- A year?

I suppose so.

A whole year?

You've taken your time to come

and see me, haven't you?

You think it's going to stop, don't you?

I'll just take your blood pressure.

Can you pop your arm on the desk

for me?

There you go.

If you straighten it up

and push up your sleeve...

Are you dozing in the daytime?

Sometimes.

So, I just need something

to help me sleep.

I know. How much sleep

are you getting at night?

I'm not getting any. That's why I'm here.

I understand, sweetheart.

OK. It's just going to go tight.

(puffing)

(hissing)

Have you got any particular worries

at the moment?

No financial problems?

No. I don't know

what that's got to do with it.

What about at home?

How are things with husband?

OK, if you just lean forward and take a

few deep breaths, in through your mouth.

And again.

It's lovely and clear.

- Have you got any kids?

- Yes.

- Are they still at home with you?

- Son is, works with his father.

Daughter's left, only see her

when she wants something.

And how about you?

Have you started your menopause?

Yes.

Everything OK?

So, will you give me some sleeping tablets?

Maybe, but it might not solve your problem.

Give me a night's sleep, though,

wouldn't it?

- How much alcohol are you drinking?

- I don't drink. My husband drinks.

Is it a problem?

No.

Are you taking any drugs, medication?

How about coffee?

Are you drinking a lot to keep awake?

Coffee, yes.

- Tea?

- Yes.

Well, we might have to look at that,

mightn't we?

OK.

Your blood pressure is slightly up,

but I'm not overly concerned about that.

But I do want you to have a blood test,

to check your thyroid.

You can make an appointment at reception.

All right?

Yes.

Now, I will give you something to help

you sleep but just enough for a week.

- What good's that?

- Insomnia isn't a disease.

Sleeping tablets won't make it go away.

We need to find the cause.

Now, you're obviously anxious,

and a little depressed.

So I want you to come back

and speak to our counsellor.

- What for?

- I think she'd be able to help you.

But you'll give me the prescription now?

Yes, but will you see the counsellor?

I think it will do you some good.

You think about it for a moment.

(tapping of keyboard)

Tom!

Give us it.

(sighs)

- Don't do your back in.

- I know.

It doesn't get any easier.

Job for a younger man, this.

Joe used to love it here.

Did you speak to my son and heir?

I left him a message on his answerphone.

(panting)

It's going to rain again.

(machinery whirs)

- Now, then.

- Hello, boss.

- What you got?

- You hit rock, then?

Yeah, we just gone through.

This is the fourth, so I reckon, what, 17?

Give or take.

- 17? It's got to be a scour hollow.

- Probably.

- All right, Mick?

- All right.

Hello.

How long will it take us to get back?

- 25, with traffic. Are you hungry?

- I am.

Good.

There you go.

Yes, London clay. Thank you.

- Thanks, Andy. See you.

- Cheers.

Ta-ta.

- Dusting of mica.

- Let's have a look.

Hmm, it's quite nice.

(chuckles)

Very nice.

- It's just a dusting, isn't it?

- Yeah.

What would you say was the happiest

moment in your life?

What do you mean?

Your nicest memory.

Have a think.

When your children were born?

- Your wedding day?

- I don't know.

Take your time.

I can't remember.

- Can't or won't?

- Mm?

Can't or won't remember?

Don't know what I'm doing here.

I didn't want to come.

Don't want to talk about my family.

Why should I?

None of your business.

All I need is a good night's sleep

and nobody's helping me.

Janet, I want to help you.

That's why we're here.

I know it's not easy

to talk about personal things.

Suppose the boot was on the other foot,

and someone came to you,

say, your daughter, and said,

"I haven't been sleeping for months."

What would you say to them?

"Go to the doctor."

What else would you say?

I don't know.

What would you ask her?

Is she eating all right?

I don't know, something like that.

Good.

Anything else?

That a couple of months of proper sleep

would sort it out.

Sort what out?

The sleeping.

OK.

On a scale of one to ten...

...how happy

would you say you are, Janet?

- One.

- One.

I think there's room for improvement there,

don't you?

What is the one thing that would improve

your life, apart from sleep?

- A different life.

- A different life.

Change is frightening, isn't it?

Nothing changes.

Hope to see you next week, Janet.

Same time.

I'll be here, but it's up to you. No pressure.

Bye.

(sighs)

- Bye-bye, Sam.

- Bye.

Look at you!

You look like you're fit to burst.

I am fit to burst.

Big boy's wrestling his way down.

If he pops out, give me a shout.

Sweetheart, I'll do more than shout.

- Hi, Gerri.

- Hello, Mary.

You're a sight for sore eyes.

- Can you process these for me?

- Oh, well, seeing as it's you.

- How are you?

- I'm snowed under, to be honest,

and I've got a headache.

- Have you seen the doctor?

- (laughs)

Hello, Gemma.

Do you fancy a drink tonight?

- I'd love one.

- Great. Are you sure?

- I've only got an hour.

- That's all right.

- Tom's cooking supper.

- Oh, lovely.

- I'll see you later.

- Yeah.

(rain pouring)

(buzz of conversation)

Do you know, Gerri, I've never been with

a man who could cook.

- Haven't you?

- No.

- They could do other things.

Rate this script:3.0 / 1 vote

Mike Leigh

Mike Leigh (born 20 February 1943) is an English writer and director of film and theatre. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) before honing his directing skills at East 15 Acting School and further at the Camberwell School of Art and the Central School of Art and Design. He began as a theatre director and playwright in the mid-1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s his career moved between theatre work and making films for BBC Television, many of which were characterised by a gritty "kitchen sink realism" style. His well-known films include the comedy-dramas Life is Sweet (1990) and Career Girls (1997), the Gilbert and Sullivan biographical film Topsy-Turvy (1999), and the bleak working-class drama All or Nothing (2002). His most notable works are the black comedy-drama Naked (1993), for which he won the Best Director Award at Cannes, the Oscar-nominated, BAFTA and Palme d'Or-winning drama Secrets & Lies (1996), the Golden Lion winning working-class drama Vera Drake (2004), and the Palme d'Or nominated biopic Mr. Turner (2014). Some of his notable stage plays include Smelling A Rat, It's A Great Big Shame, Greek Tragedy, Goose-Pimples, Ecstasy, and Abigail's Party.Leigh is known for his lengthy rehearsal and improvisation techniques with actors to build characters and narrative for his films. His purpose is to capture reality and present "emotional, subjective, intuitive, instinctive, vulnerable films." His aesthetic has been compared to the sensibility of the Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu. His films and stage plays, according to critic Michael Coveney, "comprise a distinctive, homogenous body of work which stands comparison with anyone's in the British theatre and cinema over the same period." Coveney further noted Leigh's role in helping to create stars – Liz Smith in Hard Labour, Alison Steadman in Abigail's Party, Brenda Blethyn in Grown-Ups, Antony Sher in Goose-Pimples, Gary Oldman and Tim Roth in Meantime, Jane Horrocks in Life is Sweet, David Thewlis in Naked—and remarked that the list of actors who have worked with him over the years—including Paul Jesson, Phil Daniels, Lindsay Duncan, Lesley Sharp, Kathy Burke, Stephen Rea, Julie Walters – "comprises an impressive, almost representative, nucleus of outstanding British acting talent." Ian Buruma, writing in The New York Review of Books in January 1994, noted: "It is hard to get on a London bus or listen to the people at the next table in a cafeteria without thinking of Mike Leigh. Like other wholly original artists, he has staked out his own territory. Leigh's London is as distinctive as Fellini's Rome or Ozu's Tokyo." more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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    "Another Year" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/another_year_2966>.

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