Hard Truths – Film Review
by Frank L.

Director – Mike Leigh
Writer – Mike Leigh
Stars – Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Michele Austin, David Webber

Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), lives in a western suburb of London. She lives with her husband Curtley (David Webber) a self-employed plumber, and her twenty-something son called Moses (Tuwaine Barrett),  The appearance of the house gives the impression of security and stability, but Pansy is far from stable. The interior of the house is spotless but equally soulless. Pansy is at war with Curtley who is hard working and inoffensive. She has similar feelings towards Moses but with more justification, as he hangs about the house. So far as he shows an interest in anything, it is in a book entitled “The Big Book of Planes”. Their defence mechanism to her verbal onslaughts is silence, but her rage is not confined to her home life, it continues with her doctor, dentist, and anyone else with whom she comes in contact. Her instinct is to be vituperative and she lets rip. She is suffering from some sort of depression.

She is in stark contrast to her sister Chantelle (Michele Austin) who runs a hairdressing establishment and is much loved by her customers with whom she chats happily and has easy friendships. She is a single mother whose two daughters are at the beginning of their careers, one as a lawyer and the other as a young executive in a skincare company. They are very much part of their community.

Chantelle hosts a family get-together in her apartment where Pansy true to form is awkward. The contrast between the two families is stark.

The only time Pansy is at a loss for words is when she attends their mother’s grave on Mother’s Day with Chantelle. Chantelle tends the grave, but Pansy stands aloof but more or less silent. She is not at one with the world, but at least she is not raging. She is, for once, lost for words.

The acting of Jean-Baptiste is magnificent particularly when she is in one of her verbal attacks against some bystander. It is frightening as it is intended to be.   Jean-Baptiste makes the depressed world in which Pansy is encased a reality. It is not comforting but Jean-Baptiste keeps you on tenterhooks. Austin as Chantelle provides a fine balance as she is stability itself, a person who gets on with her life and with the people who populate it. While she loves her sister she does not understand her.

The storyline is primarily about Pansy’s depression and how it manifests itself both in her immediate family and those she comes in contact with. There is no denouement as such and the ending is enigmatic. It is a puzzling but thought-provoking film which Jean-Baptiste makes memorable.