Hard Truths
Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s unrelenting performance has won her numerous awards for Mike Leigh’s superbly realised if downbeat drama.
Marianne Jean-Baptiste
Image courtesy of StudioCanal.
Mike Leigh's latest film is a work much easier to respect than to love. Nevertheless, apart from the fact that the family central to Hard Truths happen to be black, we once again have Leigh in familiar territory focusing on a working-class household in suburban London and doing so with the sympathetic yet acute eye that is regularly to be found in his films. And indeed, the casting of that fine actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste in the central role of Pansy reunites her with Leigh and reminds us that their previous collaboration was on one of his best works, 1996's Secrets & Lies set in a comparable milieu.
Pansy's husband is Curtley (David Webber) who works as a plumber along with an assistant, Virgil (Jonathan Livingstone). A further occupant of the couple’s home is their 22-year-old son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett) who seems content to lope around doing little or nothing. But that does not mean that the shared family life is appealing because Pansy is somebody who has an aggressive nature and who constantly complains and speaks provocatively to those around her, just as much to strangers as to Curtley and Moses who have to bear the brunt of it. While somebody like Pansy would be hell to live with and while Jean-Baptiste realises the character to the full, initially her comments make for a film that offers the audience some amusement (and comedy is indeed an element that we associate with many of Leigh’s films even if their realism and depth also adds another dimension). But in this instance Jean-Baptiste’s properly unrelenting performance increasingly makes us realise that at heart Pansy is a bitterly unhappy person and consequently the laughter dies away. We are brought face-to-face with a woman whose self-centred misery is inescapable because it springs directly out of her inner state, a condition which, whether involving mental or medical issues, has deeply marked her psychologically.
In portraying Pansy's world with unsparing accuracy, Mike Leigh also offers a contrast by comparing her with her sister Chantelle (Michele Austin). Now fifty-three years old and having had to cope with a husband who walked out on her, Chantelle has had much to contend with and has had two daughters, Alicia (Sophia Brown) and Kayla (Ani Nelson), to bring up on her own. Yet, in spite of that, Chantelle in stark contrast to Pansy is blessed with a positive outlook on life and that is reflected in the very different look and atmosphere of their respective homes (fine work here by production designer Suzie Davies). Hard Truths emphasises these differences and also without resorting to flashbacks reveals to us something of the background history of these two sisters. There is a key scene, marvellously played by both actresses, where we see the sisters visiting the grave of their mother and from their talk learn something of the family history including Pansy’s belief that it was Chantelle who was always her mother's favourite child.
The virtues of Hard Truths are many including the genuine pathos of its concluding scenes, the emotion of that scene in the cemetery and the impact when Pansy undergoes a breakdown during a gathering at Chantelle's home. The cast take much of the credit, of course, and, if Pansy is so central that one thinks first and foremost here of Marianne Jean-Baptiste, one notes too how impeccable the casting is all round (a special word here for Tuwaine Barrett who fits the role of the wayward son Moses quite perfectly). Other assets include the wide screen colour photography by the late Dick Pope in his final collaboration with Mike Leigh and an unusual and effective music score by Gary Yershon using a limited number of instruments and wisely excluded altogether for that impactful scene in the cemetery.
It is, I think, possible to see a few touches as overdone. The banter between Pansy's husband and his associate Virgil doesn't always ring true, the playfulness between Chantelle and her daughters similarly feels a bit forced at times and it seems strange that the final scenes in which Pansy and Curtley are appropriately central should also incorporate shots in Piccadilly Circus introduced to hint at a possible romance for Moses. But these are minor details and the reason why I find Hard Truths a difficult film to love concerns another point altogether. Way, way back Mike Leigh made a film entitled Bleak Moments but in a major sense this is close to being his bleakest film yet. He has, of course, given us a number of major serious works, but they only serve to underscore my point. If one compares Hard Truths with Vera Drake (2004) one is at once aware that the earlier work was bracing in its meaningful concern with issues around abortion and that its central character was seen in a way that brought out a warmth of feeling in the viewer. But, while Hard Truths shows both the pain of being somebody like Pansy and the cost of it to others and especially to her husband, most of the audience who seek it out in these grim times will find that what is portrayed here (a string of incidents rather than a plot as such) leaves them feeling depressed and helpless in the face of a tragic situation about which they can do nothing.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Cast: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Michele Austin, David Webber, Tuwaine Barrett, Sophia Brown, Ani Nelson, Jonathan Livingstone, Samantha Spiro, Syrus Lowe, Bryony Miller, Tiwa Lade, Donna Banyn, Hiral Varsani.
Dir Mike Leigh, Pro Georgina Lowe, Screenplay Mike Leigh, Ph Dick Pope, Pro Des Suzie Davies, Ed Tania Reddin, Music Gary Yershon, Costumes Jacqueline Durran.
Film4/Thin Man Films/The MediaPro Studio/Creativity Media-StudioCanal UK.
97 mins. UK/Spain. 2023. US Rel: 10 January 2025. UK Rel: 31 January 2025. Cert. 12A.
