2 Women sit in a car looked angry

An emotionally charged and grounded familial drama  in the form of Mike Leigh‘s Hard Truths, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a film with as many awkward family encounters as this does.

Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) is the matriarch of her family; husband Curtley (David Webber) and son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett). With a particular bitterness towards people and life itself, the lack of recognition from her family only adds fuel to the fire. An estranged relationship with her sister, Chantelle (Michele Austin), also manages to get to Pansy, an invite to visit their mother’s grave together a chance to let out some truths.

Mike Leigh both writes and directs his latest effort, with mixed results when it comes to both aspects. It opens with a quaint shot of a British neighbourhood before we are introduced to Pansy, the true focal point of the film. Every coo of a pigeon or slightest noise from outside causes her to check what’s going on outside her window – a true curtain-twitcher if ever there was one. It’s an interesting introduction to the character, making you think of her as just being paranoid, and then we see her out in public and her attitude to everything is just so negative. With this, we realise Pansy has some deep-lying issues at play that have filled her with contempt for the world. A trip to the dentist isn’t the nicest of things but the way Pansy deals with it, along with every other encounter, is staggeringly rude and downright uncomfortable to watch.

It’s played for humour at times too, everyone probably having encountered someone like her in their life – distracting at times too as the dialogue does feel quite broken and unnatural. She has to be right all the time, even when discussing her health with a trained doctor, and we feel the frustration of her lack of appreciation at home from her husband and son leading to her being so bitter. Leigh does well to counteract this with a view into the life of Pansy’s sister, Chantelle, and her family. Not only does she have a job where she gets to hear about the entertaining lives of her salon customers, but she also has two daughters who genuinely show interest and want to talk to her. Two sisters living very different lives is an interesting approach from Leigh, it just doesn’t feel like all the ideas he has culminate in the most satisfying manner. A dinner scene towards the end of the film is suitably awkward as both families get together for Mother’s Day, and provides the film with a true highlight of writing and performance – worlds that should feel closer but couldn’t feel more apart colliding.

While it is an ensemble effort, Marianne Jean-Baptiste delivers a true force of nature performance as Pansy, elevating the material in the process. There are awkward laughs to be had whenever she lashes out at someone trying to help but the best scenes come when she shares the screen with Michele Austin as her sister. These are the moments we see the true reasons for Pansy’s behaviour and the broken bond between sisters coming to the fore rather emotionally. Hard Truths doesn’t need to be a flash family drama to succeed and, thanks to Mike Leigh‘s work and some fine performances, the sense of realism it achieves is something to be admired.

★★★1/2

Playing in UK cinemas on 31st January 31st  / Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Michele Austin, David Webber, Tuwaine Barrett, Ani Nelson, Sophia Brown, Jonathan Livingstone / Dir: Mike Leigh / StudioCanal / 12A

This review is edited repost of our 2024 BFI London Film Festival review | original review link


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