Life is Sweet Blu-Ray - Pre-order 16 February 2026

This invigorating film from Mike Leigh was his first international sensation. Melancholy and funny by turns, it is an intimate portrait of a working-class family in a suburb just north of London—an irrepressible mum and dad (Alison Steadman and Jim Broadbent) and their night-and-day twins, a bookish good girl and a troubled, ill-tempered layabout (Claire Skinner and Jane Horrocks). Leigh and his typically brilliant cast create, with extraordinary sensitivity and craft, a vivid, lived-in story of ordinary existence, in which even modest dreams—such as the father’s desire to open a food truck—carry enormous weight.

· United Kingdom

· 1990

· 103 minutes

· Colour

· 1.85:1

· English

· Spine #659

DIRECTOR-APPROVED BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

· New, restored 2K digital film transfer, supervised by director of photography Dick Pope, with 2.0 surround DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack

· New audio commentary featuring director Mike Leigh

· Audio recording of a 1991 interview with Leigh at the National Film Theatre in London

· Five short films written and directed by Leigh for the proposed television series Five-Minute Films, with a new audio introduction by Leigh

· English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

· PLUS: A new essay by critic David Sterritt

· New cover by Eric Skillman