Mike Leigh: 'Everybody has problems'

Another Year director Mike Leigh has said that he is unable to make movies about problem-free people.

The Secrets & Lies filmmaker revealed at his latest movie's Cannes press conference that telling stories about bleak subjects is truer to life than exploring people without foibles.

"When I discover those [problem-free] people, I will be happy to make a film about them," he said. "Until that time comes, I'll continue with the naïve assumption that everybody's got problems."

Leigh argued that his last film Happy-Go-Luck was more optimistic than his previous work, but dismissed claims that Another Year characters Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen) are without troubles.

"There is a notion creeping in here that Tom and Gerri are people with no problems," he added. "They've got some problems, Mary (Lesley Manville) is one of the problems that they have. All in all, what we have to agree, is that problem-free people in this world don't exist. Everybody is therefore interesting."

> Click here to read our Cannes review of 'Another Year'