Hard Truths - Film Review

Post

Subscribe

British film Hard Truths will be in cinemas on 6 March 2025. Starring the magnificent Marianna Jean-Baptiste, Michele Austin, David Webber and Tuwaine Barrett, with Jonathan Livingstone as Virgil, it's a 97-minute-long drama rated 'M' - and directed by Mike Leigh who returns with his 23rd film. Reuniting with Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Secrets & Lies) he crafts a challenging yet compassionate exploration of modern family life in London, focusing on the dynamics within an extended family. Family relationships can be challenging and sometimes it's not always easy to leave the prickly pears behind, depending on your heart.

Pansy (Jean-Baptiste) is a hypersensitive woman quick to take offence, and she is quick to unleash in loads. She's relentless with everyone, and pity her husband Curtley (David Webber) and their adult son Moses (Tuwaine Barret) who have learnt to not bother to respond as it would be pointless. Pansy picks fights with strangers and enumerates the world’s flaws to anyone who will listen, particularly her cheerful sister Chantal (Michele Austin), who may be the only one still capable of showing her empathy, love and affection. This film is an exploration of Pansy's pain and the impact it has on her family, all those around her, and even herself. Leigh’s trademark humour and attention to detail is evident in each scene, as it strives to give us an understanding of the complex characters, and why even the most difficult amongst us deserves compassion. Did it work? Watch and let me know.


There's no doubt that the formidable Marianne Jean-Baptiste gave her all, fearlessly, as Pansy. If the trailer gives you the impression it's all going to be fun and games, you couldn't be far from the truth. Sure, there is humour there, but this is also a deep dive into the intricacies of our personal response to what life has put in our paths. It's difficult to comprehend whether or not the interpretation on screen translated to the title of the film. Maybe the hard truth is for us the viewers, as it feeds us a little of Pansy's character at a time, with revelations slow coming as to what may be the difficulty she is dealing with. And when it does come, for some it may not seem as monumental or the tsunami that one might expect, but the hard truth is one person's molehill is another person's mountain.

In a way the director's slender sketch challenges us to consider how we might handle things when it's family and someone you love, and you feel that deep-rooted commitment to help them, and can't just discard them, as extreme as their personalities may be. With just a wisp of a plot to accompany this prickly, unpleasant sister, wife and mother, you'll be spending an uncomfortable amount of time in what might seem disarmingly funny on screen, and easier to laugh at, than it would be to do so in reality. Jean-Baptiste is phenomenal in her performance as this terrible character, as she rides the fine line between being in pain, the rot settling in the midst of her personality, yet being acutely aware she's driving people away, and is carving out a lonely life for herself. She seems trapped and catatonic in her unwillingness to let go of her hardline behaviour, unable to help herself to bring about change. If you're looking for a climatic relief and a final reckoning, I'm afraid that would be too easy. The director is going to leave you hanging in that slice of life that is just about people, flawed as they may be. A relatively vague ending may leave you feeling dissatisfied, but the director seems uninterested in wrapping it all up tidily for the audience. I guess we're going to have to put our big girl/big boy pants on and deal with it.



%wneverywhere
#film_tv_reviews
#cinema
#drama