The simple beauty of Hard Truths packs a punch

Five years on from the events of March 2020, it seems the world as a whole is still processing those dark days.

Mike Leigh has insisted that Hard Truths could take place at any time and any place, but the specificity of the collective societal trauma that’s on display in Hard Truths is front and centre.

In early 2020, some element of the unspoken social contract was ripped up and for some people, they have yet to sign back up to it.

Enter Leigh, the poet of British cinema, returning with one of his most astounding films yet.

At the centre of Hard Truths is a deceptively simple premise; why is that one person in your life the way that they are?

The answer to that question, and the person, differs from viewer to viewer, but Leigh, in his trademark style, captures that singular person in your life where no matter how hard you try, you cannot reach them and all they do is lash out.

When that person eventually lets their guard down and lets it all out, it is singularly crushing.

Hard Truths is at once a laugh riot and a film that will leave you reaching for your sleeve to quietly cry into.

At the centre of Hard Truths, the engine of the whole endeavour, is Marianne Jean-Baptiste.

Jean-Baptiste reuniting with Leigh is a dream come true for film fans; after all, the pair’s previous collaboration Secrets and Lies was one of the most quietly transformative films of the 1990s.

Before 1996, British cinema was stuffy Merchant-Ivory dramas like The Remains Of The Day or A Room With A View; the twin successes of Secrets and Lies and Trainspotting offered a shot of adrenaline to the system.

Sports fans will be familiar with the idea of a player coming back to their old club; Liverpool had Robbie Fowler return in 2006 and Cristiano Ronaldo famously returned to Manchester United in 2021 and the old adage is to “never go back” as it rarely works out.

After all these years, is it possible for an actor and director pair like Jean-Baptiste and Leigh to recapture the magic?

You already know the answer – of bloody course they do.

Jean-Baptiste gives the best performance of the year as Pansy, a mother, wife, sister and aunt who simply thinks the world is too much and wants to be left alone.

Pansy is an instant classic Mike Leigh character, like David Thewlis’ Johnny in Naked or Imelda Staunton as the titular Vera Drake.

Pansy is completely irrational and treats everyone around her with contempt, always ready with an excuse about why she doesn’t like the person she is dealing with at that given moment.

Mike Leigh films don’t do set pieces, at least not in the traditional sense, but the big showcase scene in Hard Truths comes at a supermarket checkout where Pansy gives the cashier and fellow shoppers a piece of her mind.

The only bullets being fired in this movie are verbal and the superheroes on show here are the people who are willing to put up with Pansy and her unique form of crankiness.

Describing Mike Leigh’s films to non-fans sounds like you are gushing over the most mundane scenarios but that is the beauty of his work; he shows life as it truly is.

Mike Leigh captures the human condition better than any director working today; a lot of that is down to his famous process of workshopping and rehearsing scenes with actors for months on end.

However, there is a simpler answer to Leigh’s genius; he fundamentally understands people better than any psychologist.

The pandemic is mentioned in passing in dialogue and that unlocks the film.

Regardless of what side of that particular debate you stand on, there has been a subtle sociological change in people’s attitudes and behaviours.

Pansy’s sister, Chantelle outright asks her at one stage “why are you so angry, why can’t you enjoy life?” to which she replies she does not know.

This unknowable truth, a hard truth if you will, is what keeps you thinking about this movie well after the credits roll.

Hard Truths follows in the Leigh tradition of the film being more episodic, slice of life rather than having one massive overarching plot (in a lot of ways, this is a companion piece to Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days) and the film is all the better for it.

The ending has been a point of contention for some critics with some arguing it is too open an ending with no real sense of resolution but that somewhat misses the forest for the trees.

A Mike Leigh film doesn’t start and end with the credits; it is like looking into a snow globe and seeing the suspended reality contained within.

Leigh gives it a shake, the snow settles and it reverts back to normal; life goes on for the characters you just met and it will continue independent of your involvement.

Hard Truths isn’t a film designed to sell out IMAX screens (although the cinematography from the late, great Dick Pope is superb) or inspire TikTok dances but the hard truth is cinema itself needs films like this to survive the streaming era.

At a time when creatives are being told to have characters repeat previously established details to keep viewers’ attention and the role of the auteur is greatly diminished, films like Hard Truths and creators like Mike Leigh need to be championed.

Last week, we gave a gushing review to The Brutalist, this year’s Oscar front-runner, a film that deserves the praise.

However, Hard Truths is the film that people need to see in their local cinema if they are to see anything; it is the film that offers the truest reflection of this strange decade we find ourselves in.