U.K. audiences aren’t usually ones to give standing ovations, but when one of their most cherished filmmakers makes a final bow, unwritten rules are allowed to be broken.
This was certainly the case for Mike Leigh, who on Thursday received a hero’s welcome at the London Film Festival premiere of “Tender Loving Care,” a film he’s said will likely be his last.
The director — an icon of British cinema with a celebrated body of work that includes “Secrets & Lies,” “Naked,” “Vera Drake” (which opened the 2004 London Film Festival), “Happy-Go-Lucky” and “Topsy-Turvey” — was welcomed to the stage ahead of the screening with applause, cheers and, after a few seconds, with almost the entire room at London’s Royal Festival Hall rising to their feet in appreciation.
When the clapping died down, the director responded, in typical Leigh style, with: “You haven’t even seen it yet.”
Starring Kate O’Flynn, Marion Bailey and Paul Jesson, “Tender Loving Care” — set and shot in London — explores themes of aging, grief and relationships, while casting a harsh light on the underfunded British health and welfare system. The film premiered at Telluride and won both the top prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival and best leading actor award for O’Flynn.
Speaking via video in San Sebastian and echoing comments he’d made earlier, Leigh said the film was “more than likely” his final film due to his own health issues. “It’s quite straightforward, I have a medical condition [myositis], which affects my muscular movement, and it’s quite difficult to move around,” he said. “[It’s] certainly more difficult than it should be for a filmmaker, and therefore it’s more than probable that this film will have to be my last film. That’s all.”
He added: “It’s a practical matter to do with my medical condition — a physical condition.”
Leigh has a long history with the London Film Festival, with many of his films have screened there. Alongside titles such as “Another Year,” “Peterloo,” “Naked,” “Vera Drake,” “Life Is Sweet” (which had its world premiere at LFF in 1990), “Mr. Turner” and last year’s “Hard Truths,” Leigh brought his very first feature, “Bleak Moments,” to the festival in 1971.