Review of Hard Truths, directed by Mike Leigh

If you’re new here, and stumbled upon this blog through the mythical powers of the Internet, welcome! I know a lot of visitors to my website are people who randomly come upon this website through search engines like Google, but I also do have a lot of visitors who come back. Regardless: my name is Ashley, and I started this blog in order to keep track of everything I’m coming across in the world.

I recently fell into a spell of unemployment probably during the worst time to be unemployed, as it was very hard to find a job. I was applying to hundreds of jobs, getting interviews, but no offer was manifesting for me in the near future. So during this time, I had a lot of free time, and spent a good chunk of it chipping away at the blog.

Once upon a time I used to go the movies every week, as I had an AMC A List subscription. For my non-Americans out there reading this, this means that a local movie theater chain here in the States has a subscription where if you pay like $28 a month, you can watch up to four movies a week there. I ended up losing my car in April 2024, which is when I stopped going as often.

Thanks to my incredible local library though, I’ve been able to check out DVDs and use Kanopy for free. I’m grateful my sister also lets me use her DVD player, as it means I can actually watch these movies. I find a lot of people these days, and my age, don’t have a DVD player, but it’s been a godsend when combining it with the local library.

It’s through the library I’ve been finding a lot of entertainment lately, as I’ve been catching up on all the movies I’ve been meaning to watch in theaters when the DVD copy arrives at the library. Hard Truths is a movie I’ve been meaning to watch, so I kept an eye out when it was finally added to the DVD catalogue.

I had to wait a bit on the holds list, but when I got ahold of my copy. I was happy as a clam and watched it immediately before I did my usual routine of applying to jobs. This movie is only 97 minutes, so it would slot in easily to a Friday night movie session if you have something else to do.

Let’s get into the review!

A hardened, anxious, and depressed woman finds herself at odds with everyone, even though she pushes them away.

Our main character in this movie is Pansy, who, in so many ways, is so British. That’s what I was realizing as I watch this movie: she’s incredibly British in the way she interacts and speaks to others. She lives with her husband Curtley and her son Moses, who, throughout the course of the movie, she chews out because of his lack of ambition.

Moses is an adult, but it seems he doesn’t have a job or any motivation to find one. He also lives at home, which is probably why he particularly has no reason to get one if his parents don’t pressure him. Pansy, however, gets on him a lot, which is a common theme for her in general. She has quite a bit of a temper, and whenever she interacts with anyone, she tends to nag and go off on them.

Whether it’s a family member or a stranger, Pansy strikes others as rude and brash. She makes comments that probably aren’t socially acceptable to most people, not matter how brutally honest they can be, which isolates her even further. This worsens her anxiety and depression, as she is now getting to the point where she gets anxious stepping outside.

She tries to stay at home as much as possible, and when she sees cute things like animals or flowers, she now only feels disgust and the feelings she’s kept brewed up inside of her. While all of this is going down, her sister Chantelle keeps begging Pansy to come to their mother’s grave on Mother’s Day, even if it causes an incredible amount of anxiety.

Pansy doesn’t want to do it for obvious reasons, even if it’s the fifth anniversary of her mother’s death, and in the days leading up to Mother’s Day she gets into more fights than usual with strangers. Eventually, she agrees to go with Chantelle to the grave, and there she insists their mother preferred Chantelle. Chantelle denies this, but Pansy continues and admits she thinks her family hates her.

Her sister assures Pansy that despite everything she says about others, she loves her. In-between all of this, we see Moses wandering the streets with his headphones in, not saying much, most likely struggling with his own personal life. When he engages with others he’s kind of awkward and quiet.

The two sisters go back to Chantelle’s home, and Pansy doesn’t say much. When Chantelle comes to talk to her, she admits she married Curtley out of desperation, but for some reason she can’t leave him, even though she knows that’s for best. She goes back into the main room after that admission, and Moses hands his mother flowers he bought. She breaks down crying because of this, as she thought her son hated her.

The family goes home and Pansy puts the flowers in a vase. When she walks away, Curtley takes the flowers and throws them outside, closing the patio door on them. When he becomes injured on the job the next day, he sends his coworker into Pansy’s room, generating so much anxiety in her she can’t go downstairs. Moses, on a walk, is approached by a girl, and Curtley cries downstairs, alone.

Overall Thoughts

Although I can see this movie not being for everyone, it’s such a brilliant movie. It shows how this woman, who is not liked by everyone who comes across her, is so afraid because she knows that she’s difficult and people hate her. She’s not happy with her life, has anxiety, and is depressed, which is part of the reason why she’s so harsh with everyone around her.

Marianne Jean-Baptiste is a revelation throughout this movie. It’s her presence that makes this movie work so well. If an actor wasn’t able to handle this role as well as she did, then this movie wouldn’t have unfolded in such an effective manner. We really learn to both love and hate this woman, even if it hurts us to see her be self-destructive.

All of this is an indicator of a strong script and writing as well, which I was pleasantly surprised by. Sometimes an actress can elevate a perform out of a weak script, but this one is so solid and simple that I was impressed by the writing and how each of the characters are shown to be struggling in their own ways as well.

I think this is such a good movie, and if it sounds like something that interests you, then you should definitely try to have the chance to watch it if you can track it down on DVD or online. I definitely do not regret watching this.

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