Hard Truths
Raw and darkly comic existential drama from Mike Leigh (Naked, Mr. Turner) about fear of life, traumas and family relationships. With a powerful lead role by Marianne-Jean Baptiste, who previously worked with Leigh in Secrets & Lies.
After the historical dramas Mr. Turner (2014) and Peterloo (2018), Mike Leigh returns to the genre in which he made his best work: the ‘kitchen sink drama’: realistic, sometimes painful, but always funny films about the lives of ordinary people. Bleak Moments was the title of one of his early films; a title that would also have suited this new film perfectly. Marianne Jean-Baptiste is Pansy, an embittered, depressed woman who barely manages to get out of bed and, on the occasions when she does, argues with anyone who dares to step within her line of sight. Her husband Curtley and adult son Moses walk silently around the house with their eyes on the ground, hoping to escape Pansy’s wrath. The contrast with Pansy's sister Chantelle, a sprightly hairdresser, could hardly be greater. At the same time, the infinitely patient Chantelle is the only one who still seems to be able to get through to Pansy.
Why is Pansy so angry at everything and everyone? The answer to that question is not spelled out; Leigh shows us parts of the puzzle, but gives viewers room to draw their own conclusions. Hard Truths had its world premiere at the San Sebastian Film Festival where the film was received as a late-career masterpiece from the now 82-year-old British grandmaster. (mv)