Hard Truths

“People. Can’t stand them. Cheerful grinning people.”

Angry, tragic and deeply pained, Hard Truths is a hard watch through to it its unresolved ending, with a commanding Marianne Jean-Baptiste as the bitter and abrasive Pansy, whose deeply embodied hurt ripples into every shrill comment and sharp glare she delivers in a truly aching examination of a broken human being that left me deeply drained but overwhelmingly sympathetic.

Discussion Points:

Marianne Jean-Baptise is undeniable and volcanic powerhouse as Pansy - who may be the most frustrating, insensitive, annoying, rude, cruel, arrogant, selfish, neurotic, hurtful, pained, grieved, emotionally unstable, anxious, depressed and deeply sad character I’ve ever had the fascinating experience of watching. Mike Leigh, the king of naturalistic, humanistic dialogue, delivers another incredible examination of the broken human condition. One that provides no simple solutions but simple displays the hurting reality of so many. It’s perhaps the most realistic depiction I’ve ever seen of someone struggling with immense chronic depression, anxiety, agoraphobia, OCD and hypochondria - and the effects it has on their family and those they interact with in society. The rest of the ensemble are all fantastic, capturing the subtle silences just as affectingly as the crackling dialogue, but it’s Michele Austin who stands out as Chantelle, the deeply patient and sympathetic sister to her thankless sibling. A truly hard watch at times given how bitter and abrasive and down right destructive its lead can be, but it’s also a deeply human film, that never demonises the difficult person at its core.