“Everyday” depicts the grueling effects a man’s prison sentence has on himself, his wife, and their young children. The prolific British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom shot the movie in scraps over five years, seizing days when his lead actors, John Simm and Shirley Henderson, were between other projects, and often during the Christmas holidays when the children (played by real-life siblings Stephanie, Robert, Shaun, and Katrina Kirk) were most available. The prison sequences, including visiting times, were filmed in actual British prisons with real wardens and convicts.
Living in a rural community in Norfolk in eastern England, Karen (Henderson) and the kids face arduous day-long treks by bus and train to visit Ian (Simm). The reason for his conviction is not disclosed, nor are Winterbottom and co-writer Laurence Coriat disposed to judge him as a criminal, though viewers may conclude that as a father of four he has acted irresponsibly.
Not being a high-security risk, he is granted days out toward the end of his sentence and on one occasion is caught, off-screen, smuggling in hash for prisoners who demanded it. Yet this can’t be attributed to recidivism. The explanation that he was frightened of not complying is justified by a beating he had previously taken (and passed off as the result of a accident).
The film’s focus is on how each family member copes with separation. Upbeat during Karen and the kids’ visits and during phone calls, Ian is usually filmed on the top bunk of his cell after they leave. He looks at the ceiling, but is far away, perhaps (or perhaps not) cogitating on his and his family’s plights and how he contrived his absence.
Karen, a resigned woman who works stocking shelves in a supermarket and as a barmaid, struggles on, but is not as stoical as she seems. Her face is already blotchy with tears when, on one visit, Ian coaxes her to lean forward so he can look down her dress and then asks that she talk dirty against her will. They grab hurried, anxious sex when they can on Ian’s days out.
Karen admits at one point that she can’t take much more, but there are no histrionics. When, lonely, she turns to a male friend who seemingly aspires to take Ian’s place as her partner and the kids’ father, the filmmakers again withhold judgment. Her involvement with this man eventually yields a moment of melodrama so muted that it can be barely be described as such. Winterbottom veterans Simm and Henderson are admirably reticent actors who, as Ian and Karen, call to mind the Thoreau-inspired line in Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon”: “Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.”
The seasons roll by — Winterbottom contrasting the open spaces of nature with the claustrophobia of Ian’s cell — and the children grow. Although Stephanie, the eldest, an adolescent by the film’s close, remains serene, the younger ones, Shaun and Katrina, are both given to crying. The boys get into fights at school and steal. Robert acts out the most. One day, he takes a loaded air rifle from a shed, mock-fires it at the back of Shaun’s head, and heads into the fields, not returning until late. He gradually develops a glower suggestive of repressed rage that does not augur well for his future.
Shot in the observational, near-vérité style that also characterized the non-speeded-up sections of Winterbottom’s “Wonderland” (with Simm and Henderson), as well as his “In This World,” “9 Songs,” and “A Mighty Heart,” “Everyday” may be too dour and lacking in incident for many audiences. Michael Nyman’s score is so plangent it draws attention to itself.
A likely influence here, Ken Loach would have leavened the story with gentle humor. Shane Meadows (who has directed Henderson) conceivably would have dwelt on the children’s travails. As it stands, “Everyday” is a commendable experiment in shooting over a protracted period and a persuasive social realist study of a problem that draws scant attention in the media.
“Everyday” opens at New York’s IFC Center and is available on VOD on November 22.
