Two couples, one Catholic, one Protestant, exist on two sides of the chasm that is everyday life in Northern Ireland: contrary to the rules of the game, Leigh allows his actors to show not how much, but how very little, the two couples have in common, apart from the fact that both women are expecting babies any minute. Among Leigh's fine cast of Irish actors, Brid Brennan and Desmond McAleer, as the Catholic couple, stand out for the simplicity with which they paint a very complex picture of life in an armed camp. Their kind of offhand caring looks forward to the central relationship that gives High Hopes its title, and it throws the tensions among the Protestant couple into relief. Throughout the film, in a sensitive and not over-obvious way, Leigh translates "the patriot game" into the gender game and back again. Lots of wonderful banter, shaggy-dog stories and offbeat humor here, within which the characters reach a kind of degree-zero of awareness ("Ah, you're livin' on an island!"..."Sure, we are livin' on an island!") as they await the births. Finally, like the story of the man who ate nothing but bread and jam in hospital, Four Days in July "just shows how little you need to get by."