This isn’t one of Leigh’s deepest films equal to “Vera Drake” and “Secrets and Lies,” for example, but in this intensely personal study he sneaks up on us with his keen observations of Poppy and the bleak world she inhabits and gives us enough information to realize that Poppy’s life is incomplete, but that she carries on hopefully and courageously, even though the future may not be any brighter. A dedicated and creative school teacher, she’s a very decent person, full of good will for others even though the responses may not be in kind and she may not realize the effect that she is having on those around her.

The trouble for this viewer is that no matter how much sympathy one may have for Poppy, her intense chirpiness becomes wearing. Poppy would be he hard to take if she were around one all the time. That said, it is still one accomplished performance likely for awards consideration.

The film poses a danger that develops when Poppy takes driving lessons from an instructor named Scott, superbly played by Eddie Marsan. He is a sexually frustrated, disgruntled and tightly wound little man who is both turned on and repelled by Poppy’s free-wheeling behavior and dressing habits that Scott finds repellent and provocative. He looks like a person ready to explode, and the mounting, tension that develops when he meets rejection is scary. How Poppy deals with this is a major element, and so is the way in which she confronts a homeless man.