Lesley Manville’s finest films – ranked

Lesley Manville’s work spans long collaborations with Mike Leigh and striking turns in films beyond his orbit. She has been collaborating with Mike Leigh for nearly half a century, starting in 1979 with the radio play Too Much of a Good Thing, and delivers some of her most notable work across a varied filmography.

Another Year stands as her bravest and most complex work for Leigh; Bafta-nominated, she plays Mary whose loneliness builds to a minute-long closeup that leaves the viewer with the full, scalding force of her solitude. In Phantom Thread she is Cyril, the purse-mouthed sister whose Oscar nomination was the least she could expect, and in Topsy-Turvy she is sublime as Kitty, conveying mute exasperation and a moving final scene that exposes the pain of being childless and overlooked.

In Mike Leigh’s All or Nothing she is Penny, a supermarket cashier whose rare smile comes two hours into a gruelling film.

lesley manville, mike leigh, another year, phantom thread, topsy-turvy, all or, bafta nomination, oscar nomination, cyril, mary