Home Sweet Home (1982, Mike Leigh): A Bleak Picture of British Suburbia

Home Sweet Home (1982), a television film directed by Mike Leigh, part of the BBC’s Play for Today series, is one of Leigh’s bleakest films. In it, the last of his contributions to this series, Leigh portrays the lives and dysfunctional relationships of three postal workers living on a housing estate in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. I’d…

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The Portrayal of Depression in The Fire Within (Louis Malle, 1963)

The Fire Within (1963) is a drama film written and directed by Louis Malle, which goes by the title Le Feu follet in French, meaning “The Manic Fire” or “Will-o’-the-Wisp”. It’s based on the 1931 novel Will O’ the Wisp by Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, which itself was inspired by the life of the French…

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