Nuts in May (1976)
If there’s a downside to Mike Leigh’s celebrated oeuvre, it’s the occasional whiff of depression that can occasionally overwhelm his work. Not so with
Nuts In May. This gloriously funny offbeat ode to tree-hugging veggies Keith and Candice-Marie, is chock full of joyous calamity as the pair blitz their way through Dorset in search of the good life.
With evidently no social graces outside the perimeter of their tent, the green couple from hell (brilliantly played by Tony Sloman and Alison Steadman) embark on an odyssey of lecture and conceit, where anything that falls outside of their well-honed ecological sensitivities is treated with abject disdain. Into the mix comes Ray, a rugby loving student teacher who has the misfortune to be sited next the couple’s tent. The amiable Welshman is subjected to all sorts of shenanigans as the pair lecture him with the potty views and bizarre observations. As if this wasn’t enough, Finger and Honky two midland ravers, arrive on a motorbike wanting nothing more than get pissed, fry up beans and sausages, and gawp at the “bleeding bluebells”.
Keith’s fragile sensitivities are stretched to the limit by the Brummie couple’s free-range behaviour, and in an attempt to pull the hapless Finger into line, Keith reverts back to a Neanderthal warrior armed with a stick. With an unannounced flood of tears from Keith, the eco-couple exit in search of the isolation they so evidently require.
Undoubtedly, Nuts in May is Leigh’s funniest film; no hidden meanings, no sociological statements, just good knockabout humour. If anyone tells you they don’t make ‘em like this anymore, they’re right - they don’t. See the clip below for a taster.
© Simon Wells 2007
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