Hard Truths: Fractured Relationships, Frustration, and Isolation.
By Esther Kabwika
I had the opportunity to watch the final film at the annual Belfast Film Festival, Hard Truths (2024), which takes place in the heart of Belfast. Director Mike Leigh is most known for his 1996 film Secrets and Lies. This film won numerous awards, including the BAFTA for Best British Film and Best Original Screenplay. Prior to their collaboration in Hard Truths, Marianne Jean-Baptiste received a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of Hortense Cumberbatch in Secrets and Lies (1996).
Hard Truths immediately introduces Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) as a deeply fearful and distrusting woman. It is clear that Pansy is an unhappy and unsatisfied wife, feeling rightly frustrated in her loveless marriage to contractor Curtley Deacon (David Webber). Pansy constantly chastises her adult son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett) for his idleness and unkempt habits. Society has forced her into the loving maternal role, but she appears deeply detached from her family. The silence in their immaculate, yet ice-cold family home explodes into the outside world.
As the days pass, you witness a realistic portrayal of a homemaker who finds no joy in her assigned life. She expresses her frustration toward those who irritate her—a trait that appears to affect nearly everyone she encounters. Pansy’s extreme aversion to disorder and coming to terms with hard truths is a trait that has plagued much of her adult life and that continues to create conflict and stern disagreements throughout the film. The film consistently portrays her as an unyielding dictator who takes dissenting voices seriously, particularly within her own family unit. This discourages her son from speaking out at all. This has also emboldened her husband to become a “man of few words,” and when he does have something to say, it’s not relevant enough to capture the attention of his wife, giving Pansy another reason to disapprove of him.
The set design of the Deacons’ sterile, eerily barren middle-class home is a bitingly accurate reflection of the family’s dynamic and the problems Mr. and Mrs. Deacon continue to skirt and dodge. The Deacons paint almost all of the walls in blinding shades of white and a lifeless grey, with very few photographs or memorabilia showcasing their family’s years of growth. Their decorating choices further exemplify this lack of sentimentality. The most potent and one of the most strained relationships in the film is that of Pansy and her younger sister Chantelle (Michele Austin). Compared to her older sister, Chantelle is a content single mother of two adult children, Kayla (Ani Nelson) and Aleisha (Sophia Brown). She owns a hairdressing business and appears to find fulfillment in her work and family. At first, her presence appears to act as a buffer against the volatile and easily agitated Pansy. However, her role in the film and in her family serves to humanize her sister, offer support, and provide judgment-free wisdom and advice (to a degree) that she desperately needs.
Cinematographer Dick Pope, who has previously collaborated with Mike Leigh on films like Peterloo (2018) and Mr. Turner (2014), is responsible for the stunning and peaceful imagery in Hard Truths. Amidst the ever-present tension and noise, Pope is able to capture the small but powerful moments of joy and the array of distressing moments in Pansy’s day-to-day life, as well as the hollowness she feels internally in both the privacy of her family home and when surrounded by her warmth and kindness in her sister’s home.
Despite being incredibly impressed by the stunning performances by the whole cast, particularly Jean-Baptiste’s character, I was only slightly disappointed by the ending. Like many audience members, I anticipated a cathartic and satisfying ending where Pansy would realise her loneliness and isolation in her featureless showroom-style home and then decide to take a bold step and settle down like her sister. However, much like life itself, outstanding cinema defies neat closure. The hard-hitting reality of not being able to face your ‘hard truths’ was incredibly realistic. This may have contributed to Pansy’s feeling of dissatisfaction. Overall, Hard Truths presents a deeply somber and compassionate drama about a Black British family, interspersed with emollient, if not exactly redemptive, flashes of fun and happiness. I would agree with The Guardian critic Bradshaw (2024) in saying Hard Truths is deserving of every award it could potentially receive.
Hard Truths is playing in the QFT until February 13th.
Bradshaw, P. (2024). Hard Truths Review—a Mike Leigh Classic of Day-to-Day Disillusionment and Courage. [online] The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/sep/07/hard-truths-review-a-mike-leigh-classic-of-day-to-day-disillusionment-and-courage [Accessed 14 Nov. 2024].
