In
Hard Truths
, Mike Leigh’s beautifully humane drama, the writer-director takes us into the lives of an ordinary British Jamaican family with the easily bothered, miserable Pansy at the center. Starring a ferocious and convincing Marianne Jean-Baptiste in an Oscar-worthy performance, Pansy finds a way to quarrel with everyone. The film concentrates little on plot structure and instead slowly peels back the layers of its characters and challenges us to rethink what we know about our elders. Inherently, witnessing a woman propel insults at people is humorous, but sadness layers the script, making it deeply moving.
Hard Truths’ Laugh-Out-Loud Script Reveals Deep, Intricate Layers Of Complex Human Behavior
We first meet Pansy as she wakes up screaming and seemingly paranoid of potential dangers around her. In between bickering with her son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett), who faces his own challenges in this complicated world, and being disgusted with her husband Curtley (David Webber), Pansy struggles to control her anger. Even a run-in with a sales agent at a furniture store proves too much. When faced with her emotional issues, she vanishes and attempts to recalibrate in her car, only to be disturbed by a stranger who asks her for the parking spot she’s sitting in.
From the outside looking in, it appears Pansy suffers from an assortment of issues — physical and mental. To make matters worse, her sleeping habits are poor, her depression is running rampant, and her paranoia increasingly grows in post-Covid isolation. Still, Leigh’s sharp script provides plenty of opportunities for laughs, with memorable one-liners that I wouldn’t dare spoil. Though it takes a while to reveal the reason for Pansy’s ways, it comes in due time. Hiding deep within her insults and sheer rage lies the story of a broken woman who suffers tremendously from overwhelming sadness, loneliness, and regret.
Hard Truths Might Trigger Feelings From Constant Verbal Abuse
But it’s a reminder that humans are imperfect and deserve compassion
With a story mapped out so humanely, it can also be overwhelming and upsetting to watch, especially if you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a loved one’s unprovoked anger. From experience, I can say it’s an awful position to be in, and it takes a great deal of empathy to not hold these moments against them. Pansy’s sister, Chantelle (played by the delightful and soulful Michele Austin), is the perfect example of how to lead with compassion. “I don’t understand you, but I love you,” she says at one point to reassure Pansy that no one hates her.
It goes without saying, but Leigh’s latest feature is a mix of humor, compassion, misery, and emotional rawness — the makings of a beautiful human story.
Still, I can’t brush off the irksome feeling that overcame me, even long after the story reveals the source of Pansy’s true pain; it hit a little too close to home. At what point does someone continuously put up with verbal abuse from a character like Pansy when her only form of communication is blame and insults? It’s a no-win situation, where accountability is thrown out the window and a hurt person externalizes their misery out into the world. But it’s certainly a human one.
My biggest gripe with Hard Truths isn’t that a character like Pansy exists, it’s that it avoids the consequences of Pansy’s behavior. Moses and Curtley received the brunt of Pansy’s anger — not all of it unwarranted — yet we don’t get enough of an adequate outcome from her tumultuous behavior. Hard Truths almost teaches us to simply avoid and endure, as Moses and Curtley have, as a means to tiptoe around the culprit’s feelings. But their feelings matter too, and it’s a shame that not enough time and space is given to the victims of emotional and mental abuse.
It goes without saying, but Leigh’s latest feature is a mix of humor, compassion, misery, and emotional rawness — the makings of a beautiful human story. What started as humorous insights into a woman who chose to rage against the world evolves into an empathetic look at her deep loneliness and depression. Hard Truths isn’t an easy watch, especially if you’ve crossed paths with a person (or even have a family member) who’s always angry. But thanks to a stunning lead performance from Jean-Baptiste and an ending that doesn’t take the easy way out, it is a must-watch.
Hard Truths had its premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The film is 97 minutes long and rated R for language. It’s expected to be released nationwide in January 2025.