Hard Truths: Movie Review

Cast: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Michele Austin, David Webber, Tuwaine Barrett

Director: Mike Leigh

Mike Leigh's latest is an intriguing movie, one that feels like the backend of a film rather than a fully cathartic experience.

A fabulously physical (and hunched) Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays Pansy, a woman who lashes out at anything and everyone for seemingly no reason. She's angry at her son Moses, a near-mute overweight child who spends most of his time in his room with his headphones on, reading books at planes; she's mad at the world in general and rants when her husband Curtley returns from work. And she raves at her sister when she suggests about heading to a cemetery on Mother's Day to pay respects to her mother.

Initially, Pansy's verbal altercations prompt a degree of sympathy and concern. But after a while of Jean-Baptiste's ferociously expressive and physical performance, they begin to elicit a troubling reality - that this is a woman lashing out at a world that's wronged her and at a frustration that nothing she can do will help.

Leigh's strength in this oddly engaging movie is one of silent patience. Ironic really, given that all of those around Pansy demonstrate exactly the same softly, softly approach.

It's a tale of two sisters - with Michele Austin's Chantelle having a more sympathetic approach on screen and a more joyous relationship with her children. And while Leigh isn't exactly subtle in the juxtaposition of the lives, it's Austin and Jean-Baptiste's performances that make Hard Truths sing - even when its ending feels too muted for what has gone before.

It's likely this will resonate with some who have either known or are the Pansy character - but while Leigh's careful not to demonise Pansy's pain and behaviour, his sensitivity in handling the story makes a compassionate and occasionally tough watch. It's never quite clear why the families tolerate Pansy other than familial bonds, but wisely Leigh never preaches about how to be - he simply shows how complex life can be once it heads down one path alone.