Writer/director Mike Leigh has been making films for the past fifty years. And yet he’s one of the few filmmakers from his generation where it’s totally an exciting event for me every time he decides to make something. There’s something about his approach to human behavior or his style of writing (or non-writing; we’ll get into that in a bit) that is always striking and bold to me. I was very excited to hear about Hard Truths, his reunion with Marianne Jean-Baptiste, star of his 1996 film Secrets & Lies. The trailer for it only had me more excited, I decided to pause production of my best-of-the-year list in case Hard Truths were to sneak onto it. And now that I’ve seen it, it just might.

Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) is an actively and aggressively unhappy woman. She wakes up every day screaming, eager and ready to air her grievances with those around her – her husband (David Webber), her 22-year-old son who still lives with them (Tuwaine Barrett), but also anyone who who happens to be around at the time. We see her snap at people in grocery stores, people in parking lots, an employee at a furniture store, a couple having a PDA moment at said furniture store, and others. Her cheerful sister Chantelle (Michele Austin) is a single hairdresser with two grown daughters. Chantelle has been trying to bring Pansy out of her anger and depression for years, which has proven to be an increasingly difficult effort. 

The attention to character detail in a Mike Leigh film is always exquisite. The director is known for being very collaborative with his actors, giving them an extensive rehearsal process, where filmmaker and actor work out the nuances of the film’s characters and the script is kind of born out of that. There’s some level of improvisation to all of the performances Leigh gets out of his performers, which is always fascinating to me. Because these films are more often than not, smaller, understated character studies where the big moments of the story are small character-driven moments. And what you learn along the way about all of the people in this film is absolutely compelling, maybe even thrilling.

Marianne Jean-Baptiste is giving the kind of definitive performance that any actor could be jealous of. This is not an easy character to play. The mental health struggles Pansy deals with have to feel rooted in something bigger, because if you’re watching someone go from place to place getting into fights with strangers, that’s something that would be exhausting after about 30 minutes. That’s a Curb Your Enthusiasm episode. But it feels like Jean-Baptiste is approaching this character with the idea that anger is sadness manifesting itself.

There is so much deep unhappiness at the core of this woman, it also makes you want to rethink the way you respond to a woman like Pansy when you encounter one in public. Because after leaving this film, you think that when you encounter someone out in the wild who is this aggressively miserable, maybe give them some grace and do not engage with them in the way they want you to. Because that person’s going through something. Something in this person’s head is telling them to behave this way and more likely than not, this has nothing to do with you. So if nothing else, this film can teach you why it’s a good thing to just excuse yourself from a situation like this and to not engage.

Despite this film being one big showcase for what Jean-Baptiste is accomplishing, every performance here is magnetic and all of these characters are vividly drawn. Michele Austin, as Pansy’s sister Chantelle, is a deeply warm and empathetic character and Austin, who also starred in Leigh’s Secrets & Lies, is absolutely terrific. Chantelle has her own issues in life, but doesn’t let everything bring her down in the way her sister does. David Webber, also, could have approached this character as the long-suffering husband, but there’s something deeper going on with him as well, as his wife’s unhappiness has mutated onto those she shares her life with. Tuwaine Barrett, as her son Moses, is also excellent here. Moses is emotionally withdrawn in the same ways his father is, and neither of the men in Pansy’s life seem to feel comfortable enjoying anything. And the reasons for that are fascinating, and are explored in depth over the film’s runtime.

Like every Mike Leigh film, there is a lot of great craft on display here. The score by Gary Yershon is great, Dick Pope’s cinematography is full of lots of unbroken long takes that really let you take in character moments on a more profound way. The set design of these apartments is really evocative of these characters. The way Pansy’s condominium is constantly being cleaned and feels sterile and clinical, contrasted with the lived-in clutter and warmth of Chantelle’s flat, tells you so much about who these people are, and they’re fascinating. You could also approach this story as an examination of what post-pandemic brain rot has done to all of us. Pansy is constantly cleaning her immaculate apartment, and you never see a speck of dust anywhere. Maybe this is indicative of the space in her life she feels she has control over, and that being a sanctuary to her. Maybe this obsessive cleaning was a result of the pandemic. Both are suggested as possibilities.

A criticism people love to throw at Mike Leigh is that nothing happens in his movies. There is admittedly less focus on a traditional beginning-middle-end structure in this film, but the entire story, the rising action, the conflict and the fallout from the conflict, is entirely dependent on how these characters are experiencing it. And I love when a filmmaker has such strong control over his characters and the way they are being presented for the entire runtime. I found these people incredibly interesting to be around for 90 minutes. Hard Truths is not an easy watch, but it’s absolutely worth the viewer’s time. It’s a lot, emotionally, but you come out of the theater with a sense of catharsis, regardless of what the characters have or haven’t learned on the way there. But more than anything else, the film is proof that Marianne Jean-Baptiste should absolutely be this year’s front runner in the Best Actress category at this year’s Academy Awards. She delivers a knockout performance in a film that actually does the work to meet her on her level, and that’s a luxury our greatest actresses are so rarely afforded.