4 out of 5 stars

Mike Leigh’s first film in six years, Hard Truths, is a quiet look into the life of one London-based family and all their mental health issues, traumas and baggage. Following his ambitious period films Mr Turner (2014) and Peterloo (2018), the director returns to the tight-framed domestic drama he became known for.

Hard Truths reunites Leigh with Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who earned an Academy Award nomination for her role in Secrets and Lies (1996). She gives a powerhouse performance as Pansy, a middle-aged woman with an anger that threatens to spill into every part of her life. Her fear of germs, distrust of her neighbours, worry for the safety of her loved ones, and health concerns, all manifest into an unlovable hostility.

Pansy lives with her plumber husband Curtley (David Webber), with whom she has nothing but disdain, and her aimless son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett) whom she doesn’t quite know how to react to. The love from her marriage is long gone, and nothing but utter resentment is left between them. Curtley thinks she’s rude, sitting around all day seething in hatred. Pasny thinks he’s lazy and ignorant, refusing to help around the house when she believes herself to be chronically ill. The couple appears to be draining the life from each other. Their son, Moses, aimlessly walks around London when he’s not in his room playing video games and reading about planes, with no goals or dreams.

The film follows Pansy over a few nondescript days. She shouts at neighbours, berates sales assistants, abuses people in a shop queue, and forms rifts in her own family. She has ongoing physical pain that keeps her from working, and she claims it is the root of all her issues. The trip to the doctor and dentist fails to address the pain in her head, jaw and abdomen, causing her even more anguish.

Meanwhile, Pansy’s hairdresser sister, Chantelle (Leigh regular Michele Austin), is mostly cheerful about life and her successful daughters, Kayla (Ani Nelson) and Aleisha (Sophia Brown), who are stressed by their careers in law and business. Chantelle is introduced during a vignette in the salon, where she animatedly chats with customers. It initially appears like a throwaway scene but effortlessly shows how naturally optimistic Chantelle is compared to her pessimistic sister.

Pansy and Chantelle’s relationship isn’t naturally warm, despite Chantelle’s patience with her sibling. The pair meet up, and their families entwine on the anniversary of their mother’s death. If Pansy’s outrageously rude behaviour is due to grief, it’s not explicitly cited but certainly hinted at.

The family portrayed in Hard Truths has no backstory, leaving audiences to bring their own experiences and suspicions. For example, it’s implied that Moses suffers from a learning difficulty or mental health issues, yet this is left for the audience to deduce. But at times, there’s a frustrating lack of context for these people and what makes them tick. It’s like walking into a room thick with tension and watching a scene play out but not quite knowing what triggered it or how it ends.

Leigh is a master at creating emotions without seemingly trying. After laying flowers on their mother’s grave, Pansy sits in her sister’s kitchen/lounge, refuses to eat, takes her coat off, and avoids all the pleasantries. The scene sits in the moment for much longer than average movies would allow it to play, making the audience feel increasingly uncomfortable. Instead of cutting it down to the crux, Hard Truths wants to explore the minutia of the family’s problems, wanting audiences to soak up every second of silence and awkward glance.

It might sound miserable, but Hard Truths is full of laughs. It’s hard not to laugh at Pansy’s outbursts and the clueless looks of her family. The script is funny, even if she is not someone you would ever want to encounter in real life. It works because many of her complaints are issues many people have in real life but would never say out loud. Who of us have wanted to tell the overly cheerful sales assistants to go away?

Jean-Baptiste gives a masterclass on being larger-than-life but never not grounded. There is not a single second of Hard Truths when she’s on screen, where she’s not complaining, being rude, or snarling. Even when quiet, her lip is quivering with anguish. The smart writing and performance allow Pansy to channel her anger and be thoroughly dislikable yet never the villain. It’s easy to see there is more to her than a hatred of the world around her; there is an obvious sadness behind the words that never make you fully despise her.

While Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s performance is laudable, Michele Austin more than matches her as her sister. Austin’s performance is less showy but equally important. In a pivotal scene, Chantelle slowly falls apart in real-time. Her body sags as the mask cracks, and she can’t maintain her bubbly persona. She almost mourns her sister as she sits in front of her.

Despite an engaging performance from David Webber, Curtley is an underdeveloped piece of the puzzle. Hard Truths struggles to get under his skin and investigate him. Moses is intriguing, especially when comparing his engagement with his cousin to his conversations with his parents. He’s the only character who seemingly gets to enjoy some level of character development.

Hard Truths feels like a well-rounded world, helped by a rich cast of supporting roles. Samantha Spiro briefly appears as Kayla’s hard-nosed boss, while Jonathan Livingstone has a minor role as Curtley’s history-obsessed co-worker. These people have small quirks that feel lived in and never scripted.

The ending will divide audiences. It’s hard to know how else to end a simple slice of London life without making it feel like an episode of EastEnders. The perhaps anticlimactic finale feels inevitable, if not unsatisfying. Ending Hard Truths a few scenes earlier would have created a more impactful resolution but not a natural one.

UK • SPAIN | 2024 | 97 MINUTES | COLOUR | ENGLISH

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Cast & Crew

writer & director: Mike Leigh.
starring: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Michele Austin, David Webber, Tuwaine Barrett, Ani Nelson, Sophia Brown & Jonathan Livingstone.