Mike Leigh: portraying women as "not just male fantasies"

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

PARIS (AFP) — "I'm a feminist, though that's not where I came from," says British award-winning director Mike Leigh of his latest movie "Happy-Go-Lucky", a comedy featuring Sally Hawkins as the free-spirited heroine.

Hawkins, who plays positive-about-life primary schoolteacher Poppy, took home a Best Actress award for the role at this year's Berlin Film festival, where the movie was shown prior to its release in different parts of the world.

An ode to the homespun wisdom of always looking on the bright side, Leigh with his trademark kitchen-sink realism shows how irrepressibly positive 30-something Poppy takes all sorts of problems in her stride.

But he also shows how disconcerting this can be to people without a naturally happily predisposition.

"I...