Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Michele Austin deliver cracking work in Mike Leigh’s despondent Hard Truths
“People, can’t stand them.
Cheerful, grinning people.”
There may be Hard Truths aplenty in Mike Leigh’s film but no-one is saying them out loud. Pansy is a woman thoroughly tormented by the world and isn’t afraid to let them know it but no-one says the word depression around her. Her 22 year old son Moses still lives at home and has no job or inclination of getting one but no-one says his behaviour suggests he might be on the spectrum. With meek husband Curtley barely saying a word to either, things certainly are hard.
Almost too hard in some respects. In the north-west London family home Pansy keeps sterile-levels of clean, much of the first half of the film is given over to Pansy’s tirades, from whom no-one is safe. Curtlety getting home from work, Moses putting the kettle on, an overly friendly sofa shop assistant, an impatient driver, the doctor, the dentist, a no-nonsense cashier – Pansy lets any and everyone have it in relentless diatribes. Marianne Jean-Baptiste delivers them with astonishing ferocity, wry humour creeping in every now and again (babies and their pockets…) but it is a lot to take on.
Set in contrast is her sister Chantelle, Michele Austin giving an equally committed performance, a single mum of two adult daughters and hairdresser (and counsellor) to the woman in her salon. Her endless patience is tested with the arrival of the 5th anniversary of their mother’s death, a graveside visit and subsequent family lunch revealing small hints as to what has brought us to this place, what the future might hold for this extended family.
Except, Leigh holds back from narrative progression in that respect, withholding the release that might come from such catharsis. And as frustrating as that might be, it feels entirely appropriate for a film that has been as astringent as this for so much of its running time, fully embracing the fact that there’s rarely easy answers on offer, particularly when such hard truths aren’t even being acknowledged. It’s grim but forcefully believable.
Ani Nelson and Sophia Brown as Chantelle’s daughters Kayla and Aleisha and Tuwaine Barrett as Moses all impress alongside Austin and Jean-Baptiste, crucially offering glimmers of hope for the next generation (even for the taciturn Moses) and as exasperating as Curtley is (the real villain of the piece if you ask me), David Webber gives him conviction. Samantha Spiro as an awful boss, Ruby Bentall as the ever-patient doctor and Jo Martin’s hairdressing patron shine among the habitual series of shining cameo performances.
