Characters in a Mike Leigh film can often be separated into two categories: those that are happy and those that are depressed. Poppy (Sally Hawkins) from Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) is the perfect example of the former; she's the quintessential perennial optimist. While Johnny (David Thewlis) from Naked (1993) is her literal anthesis. In Leigh’s latest, Hard Truths (2024), a new Johnny acolyte joins Leigh’s London: Pansy, played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste.
When we first meet Pansy, she wakes up screaming in bed. This is a common recurrence that sets the tone for the rest of the film. Pansy is always tired and irritable. She berates dental hygienists, supermarket clerks, and most painfully, her introverted son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett). No one is safe, not even babies in onesies. During a family dinner, she says, “What’s that baby gonna keep in its pocket? A knife?” Pansy is often funny despite her rage. Jean-Baptiste’s line delivery is quippy, with twitches of theatricality that disarm rather than alienate the viewer. Leigh’s penchant for hammed up reality allows Jean-Baptiste to really lean into the insults. Their collaboration, like the film, is not geared toward naturalism.
Pansy is not the only person struggling in Hard Truths. Supporting characters make impressions, as they always do in Leigh’s films. Pansy’s sister Chantelle (Michele Austin) has her own set of anxieties, as do her daughters, and the clients at her hair salon. Whispers of the lingering effects of Covid-19 and no-good men reveal personal and systemic problems that most likely reflect the last 10 years of UK politics. Starting with former Prime Minister David Cameron, recent conservative leadership embraced austerity measures that pushed the country’s withdrawal from the EU, while wrongfully detained citizens of Afro-Caribbean descent were affected in the Windrush Scandal. Hard Truths takes place in the aftermath of these socio-political developments, leaving the film’s almost entirely Black ensemble cast with cause for concern.
On Mother’s Day, Pansy has a breakdown in front of her Mother’s grave after Chantelle throws their unspoken family history on the table. “Why are you so angry? Why can’t you make friends? Why can’t you enjoy life?” For the first time, Pansy is rendered mute, ostensibly obliterated by her own sadness. Until this moment, it’s been hard to hold compassion for Pansy. But like Chantelle, who sits with her sister after this altercation, Leigh makes space for Pansy, wanting to understand her internal conflicts rather than judge them.
Hard Truths screens tonight, October 7, at the Smith Rafael Film Center as part of the Mill Valley Film Festival.
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