After her adoptive mother dies, Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a successful black eye doctor, seeks out her birth mother. She's shocked when her research leads her to a lower-class white woman, Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn). At first Cynthia denies the claim, but she eventually admits to birthing Hortense as a teenager, and the two begin to bond. However, when Cynthia invites Hortense to a family barbecue, Cynthia's already tense relationship with her family becomes even more complicated.

Annie (Lynda Steadman) is meeting up with her old college pal Hannah (Katrin Cartlidge) for the first time since they graduated six years ago. They bonded in school, despite their differences; now they've become more mature and put their old problems behind them -- or so they think. Once they reunite, Annie realises that she hasn't fully overcome her past anxieties, while Hannah learns that she is still too insensitive to the feelings of others. Both women hope to make some changes.

Mike Leigh cleverly weaves together past and present as we share their memories; the touching, the funny and the sometimes tragic.

Johnny (David Thewlis) is a frenetic and destructive outsider who tears through the lives of others like an emotional tornado. On the run from Manchester, he seeks sanctuary with his ex-girlfriend Louise (Lesley Sharp) in London, where he immediately targets her vulnerable housemate Sophie (Katrin Cartlidge) with his unique blend of predatory charm. From there he embarks on a nocturnal odyssey across the city, dragging other disaffected souls into his orbit as he spirals towards his own personal apocalypse.

Mike Leigh’s Cannes-winning film is a masterful, controversial, and totally unforgettable exploration of society in free-fall at the tail end of Thatcher’s Britain.

The world of Gilbert and Sullivan comes to vivid life in director Mike Leigh's extraordinary dramatisation of the staging of the duo's legendary 1885 comic opera The Mikado. Jim Broadbent and Allan Corduner brilliantly inhabit the roles of the world-famous Victorian librettist and composer, who, along with their troupe of temperamental actors, must battle personal and professional demons while mounting this major production. A lushly produced epic about the harsh realities of creative expression, featuring bravura performances and Oscar-winning costume design and makeup, Topsy-Turvy is an unexpected period delight from one of contemporary cinema's great artists.