British maestro Mike Leigh’s 23rd feature, Hard Truths, is an intense yet compassionate character study of Pansy Deacon (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a far from likeable person at first sight. High-strung, easily affected and offended and flaring up at the slightest provocation, she makes things wretched not just for herself but also for everyone around her. Her plumber husband Curtley (David Webber) and their aimless drifter of a son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett) are at the forefront of bearing the brunt of her mercurial ways, relentlessly, almost every single day and hour of their lives. The strangers—fellow shoppers, sales counter managers, doctors and dentists—are just as susceptible to her unpredictable fits of temper.
The only one to exercise a modicum of control and bring ease and peace to Pansy is her hairdresser sister Chantelle (Michele Austin). A polar opposite, Chantelle is a sunny, positive, cheerful and immensely amiable single mother with two daughters who are just as bright as her—Kayla (ani Nelson) and Aleisha (Sophia Brown). While Pansy shuns people, Chantelle embraces them and personifies community spirit.
The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. It also screened at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, London Film Festival and the New York Film Festival. Jean-Baptiste’s performance has been one of the most widely appreciated in 2024. She got the Best Actress nod for 2024 from the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (shared with Mikey Madison, Anora) as well as the National Society of Film Critics, the first woman of colour to have achieved this distinction. She also won the best lead performance award at the British Independent Film Awards and Toronto Film Critics Association.
