Hard Truths from writer and director Mike Leigh doesn’t deliver the magic that was Secrets and Lies despite the stunning and powerful performance by Marianne Jean-Baptiste.
Hard Truths feels more of a character study than a film of Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) as she navigates the world including her interactions with her well balanced hairdresser salon owning sister, husband and autistic son. There are glimmers of a compelling storyline especially the scene of the two sisters at their mother’s graveside. It is then that we begin to understand part of the reason for Pansy’s mental health issues and the cause of the anger becomes clear. Just as we are about to start to discover more, the glimmer is gone!
Had the script been expanded and, as a consequence more screen time allowed we’d have had a really interesting story about how; the Pandemic and Lockdown triggered a mental health breakdown in Pansy, generational trauma and that marriage doesn’t offer any protection or comfort from either. Instead we are left with the representation of yet another Black woman being shown as tragic and mad. I am tired of seeing this on screen. It feels reductive rather than showing Black women as complex, rather than tired tropes. For that reason the film just left me feeling empty and disappointed.
Hard Truths doesn’t come anywhere close to capturing the magic of Secret and Lies. It clearly isn’t trying to but as a viewer you can’t help but think of the film.
Hard Truths had its UK premiere on the 14 October at the London Film Festival and will be released in UK cinemas in January 2025.
