Just re-watched this movie. It has stayed with me for years after watching it upon its release.
Even now, it is a luminescent and fully inhabited performance by Sally Hawkins. How can any one avoid falling in love with her character who brings, love, laughter and empathy to every human in her path. Just as powerful to her light was the masterful performance by Eddie Marsan as a dark, angry and bitter man, who despite himself is drawn into her sphere of happy irreverence.
Even as Poppy encounters difficult situations she doesnโt look away from the pain and difficulty evident in those she meets, she remains deeply empathic to human suffering - even when most of us would run in fear. Instead, she stays in her heart and continues to offer us her light. She knows that she and the world need it.