UPDATE: “Hard Truths” has an 86 on Metacritic.
EARLIER: It turns out that Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths” is one the more plotless and modest films of the iconic British filmmaker’s career. It’s an episodic character study of a 60-something woman angry at the world.
As played by the incredible Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Pansy cannot engage in seemingly sane conversations without shouting and getting angry at people. She picks fights and airs her grievances with practically everyone and anyone she encounters; it could be a sweet supermarket cashier or the happy-go-lucky dental hygienist. It doesn’t matter who. She’s game to brawl.
Pansy is clearly unwell, there’s this pent-up rage inside her, and that’s despite having a solemn, hard-working husband (David Webber); They have an overweight, videogame playing 22-year-old son (Tuwaine Barrett) who barely utters a word, head always down. As far as father and son are concerned, they ignore Pansy’s threats, opting to instead suffer through her relentless tirades; “You don’t know my suffering,” she howls. “You don’t know my pain!”
Pansy’s inventively lobbied threats, slurs and insults come off as darkly comic, even though we’re very much aware that there’s something terribly wrong with this woman. She needs help, and only her cheery sister Chantelle (Michele Austin) somehow manages to crack through her closely guarded shield, but only in the very briefest of moments.
Whenever Pansy is on-screen, there’s tension, lots of it, and Leigh uses Jean-Baptiste’s volcanic performance to drive his film forward, passing on anything that might constitute plot, and just letting the actress rip it on-screen. Smart move. You can’t take your eyes off Pansy. Shee oozes tension in every frame.
Leigh doesn’t offer any answers for Pansy’s mental health issues, nor does he really give us much of an ending. “Hard Truths” is intended to be a micro study of a fascinating and, at times, aggravating character. Jean-Baptiste is up to the task, and might have even surpassed her exemplary Oscar-nominated work in Leigh’s 1996 classic “Secrets & Lies.”
After “Mr. Turner” and “Peterloo,” Leigh, 81, has made a winning return to the kitchen sink dramas that brought him great acclaim in his career. It might not be one of his best films, but it’s a worthy addition to a filmography that keeps aging like fine wine.