Mike Leigh’s first film in six years is one of his most poignant and arresting dramas. HARD TRUTHS is nothing less than immaculate in its construction and is bound to resonate deeply with British audiences living in a post-Covid world.
During a BFI Q&A, Leigh explained that it was never meant to be interpreted as being directly about lockdown. Nevertheless, this movie about a mentally ill woman’s anger at the world lends itself to the current climate of emotional alienation and social disillusionment. What begins as amusing turns utterly heartbreaking. An empathetic portrait of mourning, this story is about the constant battle of waking up in the morning and having to function – despite the headaches.
We follow Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), who is still tormented by the death of her mother, whom she hated for complicated reasons. As she berates people out in the world and suffers multiple outbursts and breakdowns, we begin to pull back layers of her toxic personality to reveal a person who is simply sad and scared. The behaviour of her ill-fated husband, Curtley (David Webber), and adult son, Moses (Tuwaine Barrett), seemingly contributes to her frustration, as Pansy finds plenty to criticise in their apathy. They have both grown numb, not just due to her antics but because of the monotony of their daily lives. Parallel to Pansy’s story, we get an endearing look at her sister Chantelle (Michele Austin) and her two daughters, Aleisha (Sophia Brown) and Kayla (Ani Nelson), as they attempt to form a closer bond with Pansy, despite her behaviour.
“We both love and hate Pansy for all the painful things she represents; the worst, most broken parts of ourselves which we can identify in – or project onto – her through Jean-Baptiste’s arresting performance.”
We both love and hate Pansy for all the painful things she represents; the worst, most broken parts of ourselves which we can identify in – or project onto – her through Jean-Baptiste’s arresting performance. Not only is she a real, three-dimensional character, but she’s also an outlet for our collective terror and confusion. Marianne Jean-Baptiste – who previously starred in perhaps Leigh’s most celebrated movie, SECRETS & LIES – skilfully embodies all of these conflicting characteristics at once. The film sees Mike Leigh delving deeper into his love for an unlikeable protagonist. NAKED presented the character of Johnny (David Thewlis) as a nihilistic womaniser, and his underrated masterpiece, MR. TURNER, saw the celebrated artist (portrayed by Timothy Spall) being depicted in a similarly unflattering but deeply authentic light.
Yet there’s something very different about the characters in HARD TRUTHS. Pansy is a black woman living in the modern day who’s experienced much suffering. She’s incredibly funny, but unlike Johnny (David Thewlis) in NAKED, she does not attempt to dress up her hatred with poetry or philosophy. She’s not some tortured artist; she’s just trying to exist from day to day, even if she’s going about it in the wrong way. Like with so much of Leigh’s work, the film reminds us of real people from our own lives. This authenticity results from the unusual preparatory methods for which Leigh and his actors have become famous. Their collaboration involves significant improvisation, and the performers effectively write the story in partnership with the director, basing their characters on individuals, or a combination of individuals, from their lives.
“HARD TRUTHS is a rare example of a modern film whose formal attributes never announce themselves to the viewer.”
HARD TRUTHS is a rare example of a modern film whose formal attributes never announce themselves to the viewer. And thus, especially with high-emotion performances like the ones discussed, it would be easy to forget about the masterful digital cinematography from Mike Leigh’s longtime collaborator, the late Dick Pope. As subtle as it is sterile, Pope opts for a desaturated aesthetic. The film leans into the neutrality of its grey colour palette and the cold modernity of its plain, digital format. Embracing that neutrality is an incredibly shrewd creative choice from Pope and Leigh. Not only is the audience given nothing that could distract from the faces onscreen, but it also reflects the depressive outlook of our main character. The look feels reminiscent of the bleach-bypass process used for both NAKED and the latter parts of ANOTHER YEAR; those films stripped back the elemental characteristics of chemical film, whereas HARD TRUTHS applies a similar principle to digital. The film urges us to view digital as an inherently harsh-looking format and to consider its symbolic relevance to our contemporary world. Through the perspective of Pansy and the aesthetic adopted by the artists, everything looks drab but also real – while NAKED appears grainy and contrasty enough to feel gritty or cinematic. Without those organic attributes, the world appears sharp and vivid yet in no way pleasant. Pansy sees everything with a clarity which she despises – much like the mental state of anyone living in the digital age.
Very few movies have the power to capture our current period of living beyond the surface level. But in this drama, the protagonist’s pain – channelled superbly by Jean-Baptiste – is a tragic microcosm of national anxiety. Only a master could conjure these concepts with such a steady hand. Mike Leigh has provided a brutally honest, hopeful perspective on our everyday problems across almost six decades. But his latest effort – Leigh’s most perceptive drama – broadens the focus to accommodate an even more confrontational and universal outlook.