Growing up and growing old over time leads to natural separation between friends, but it doesn’t mean that you’ll never see each other again. Career Girls depicts an ordinary reunion between two women Hannah and Annie, but through the subtleties of writer-director Mike Leigh’s dialogue, and the chemistry between Katrin Cartlidge and Lynda Steadman, it captures the weathered yet fond friendship they share, despite all that has happened to them. It’s naturally bittersweet, the same way we remember old friends, but it's also comforting, just having a friend that sees you for who you are, regardless of the time that has passed since you’ve last met.

The plot of Career Girls alternates between past and present, but unlike Greta Gerwig’s Little Women’s golden past and blue present, the color grading is opposite– the past is blue tinted, fraught with anxiety and doubt and more melodrama, while the present is brighter, calmer, if still centered on the same concerns. It’s an intriguing way to depict the melancholy that comes when recalling past memories.