From its limited, if audacious, lead performance to its non-ending ending, Hard Truths has the feel of a first draft. Clearly this is the version writer-director Mike Leigh, a stalwart of closely studied, character-driven British cinema, wanted to make. (Previous films of his include Mr. Turner, Happy-Go-Lucky, and Vera Drake.) Performance is almost always at the center of Leigh’s films, so it’s no surprise that Marianne Jean-Baptiste—reteaming with Leigh after her Oscar-nominated performance in Secrets & Lies—dominates the movie as Pansy, a deeply distressed middle-aged woman. Pansy verbally unleashes her anxiety and anger on anyone around her, be it her husband, 22-year-old son, the dentist trying to inspect her teeth, or the supermarket clerk whose face inexplicably enrages her. (Only her sister, softly and smartly played by Michelle Austin, knows how to parry the assaults.) These are mesmerizing tirades, bitterly witty monologues delivered by Jean-Baptiste with astonishing dexterity and force. But (slight spoilers ahead), it’s the only side of Pansy we see until a (clearly telegraphed) breakdown in the final third of the film, when she dramatically downshifts to become nearly catatonic. I was reminded of Gena Rowlands as the emotionally unstable young mother of A Woman Under the Influence. Both women summon powerful (and critically lauded) performances, but the movies surrounding them prioritize behavior over a deeper sense of being known.
(12/13/2024)
