Mike Leigh is a great director of small stories that explore the personal emotions of regular people in intimate ways. His latest, the drama Hard Truths, is about regrets that fester until they turn into uncontrollable anger. The main character is a woman who lashes out at everyone and everything she comes across, probably because of how mad she is at herself. It is a quiet, perceptive, movie, concerned with what lays underneath her anger, and filled with pain. It is intriguing precisely because the protagonist is terrified of facing her feelings head-on, instead exploding at the entire world. Leigh observes her, watching as she punishes herself by trying to make those around her hate her. The sensitivity with which her story is told is captivating.
Pansy is miserable. She rants at everyone; her husband, son, sister, complete strangers, etc. She acts like every aspect of her life exists to weigh her down. She is not well in any sense of the word. As Mother’s Day approaches, her sister encourages her to get together to visit their late mother’s grave, an event that horrifies Pansy.
Things don’t come to a climactic head. It is more that they proceed logically from one emotional beat to the next. Pansy is constantly yelling and declaring, though rarely about what truly matters to her. Hard Truths (94 minutes, without the end credits) allows its viewers to see the spaces in between. The focus isn’t on her histrionics. It is on the look on her face as she contemplates her life. The look on her husband’s face as he considers what his wife is going through. Their quiet despair, and that of their son, who almost fades into the background. As well as the way Pansy’s sister pushes on through her grief, finding happiness with her daughters. These are the things Mike Leigh is actually interested in. Enjoying life, despite your pain, rather than filtering any positives through the lens of your internal frustrations.
As Pansy, Marianne Jean-Baptiste is equal parts hilarious and tragic. Most likely what she is dealing with is a very deep depression, which she expresses by hiding herself in a shell of rage. There are moments where she is literally shaking from fear and anxiety. She protects herself by going on the offensive at the slightest hint of conflict. Jean-Baptiste is masterful here with Pansy’s sleight of hand; put the attention on the venom she spits out, so you don’t see how uncomfortable she is. There is a sequence at a furniture store where she starts three unrelated fights. Some of these interactions are funny, until it becomes clear how scared she is, all the time. If this were a family member, it would be one you would love in spite of themselves. Pansy is both sympathetic and exasperating at once.
Mike Leigh doesn’t care for melodrama. There are no big revelatory conversations. Why does she hate her husband? Why is she always putting down her son? The supporting characters also get their own arcs, as we get glimpses into their lives. The most touching is Pansy’s son, an early twenty-something named Moses. His mother is perpetually unhappy, his father is passive to an extreme. Moses barely speaks, seemingly trying to get away so he can be alone as much as possible. His story concludes with a small moment so subtly beautiful that I couldn’t help but smile. In the end, maybe that is what Leigh is really saying with Hard Truths: life is full of tough challenges that are easier to take on if we can find pleasure in the individual joys we encounter along the way.
4¼ out of 5
Cast:
Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Pansy
Michele Austin as Chantelle
David Webber as Curtley
Tuwaine Barrett as Moses
Sophia Brown as Aleisha
Ani Nelson as Kayla
Written/Directed by Mike Leigh
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