Toronto 2024 review: Hard Truths (Mike Leigh)

“Monumental and staggering, Hard Truths is a powerful film about untreated suffering and family ties.”

I don’t know why I’m like this”, yells Pansy, the lead character in Mike Leigh’s latest film, Hard Truths, which is premiering at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.  Leigh’s film is his first since 2010’s Another Year to be set in present-day England and brings the master back to familiar territory.  Monumental and staggering, Hard Truths is a powerful film about untreated suffering and family ties.  While Leigh has made many great films in his career, Hard Truths may be one of his best, in part due to Leigh’s masterful direction and the film’s powerful, all-time performances.

The film tells the story of Pansy, played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste.  Pansy suffers from a variety of neurodivergent mental health conditions and appears to have been untreated her entire life.  She constantly bears physical pains likely caused by the unacknowledged symptoms and the mental and physical anguish causes her to repeatedly burst out in anger against strangers and family members.  It’s likely that Pansy could be diagnosed with many conditions including, among others, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, intermittent explosive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, and general anxiety disorder, but she lacks either the knowledge or self-acceptance that she may need help in order to begin to improve her life.  She has suffered much trauma which has caused her to live on the edge.  In her home, everything belongs in a specific spot and there is no dirt to be found on any surface – everything looks perfect.  She also consistently doesn’t like to leave the confines of her house, and makes excuses at times not to do so, likely due to anxiety caused by overstimulation, hyperfixations, exhaustion, and the inability to control her emotions.  

While this may make Hard Truths seem like a somber or even frustrating film on paper, Leigh instead creates a stunning masterpiece of energy, humor, and compassion.  He imbues Pansy’s character with deep humanity and decency.  The film begins with Pansy going off and yelling at her son and husband as they don’t do everything perfectly to her liking.  Leigh later transitions to scenes with Pansy in public spaces where she comes off as the local curmudgeon – criticizing and yelling at people for their every move, for having an unpleasant manner, or even for the expression on their face.  This is played for a great comedic experience in the early scenes, but then Leigh deftly and subtly transitions the film to an exhibition of empathy to human sorrow.  This shows the true suffering that Pansy experiences on a daily basis, which in turn has affected and shaped the lives of her husband Curtley (David Webber) and adult son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett).

In one hilarious yet emotional set of scenes, Pansy visits a furniture store.  She loses control of her emotions against one of the employees, leaves the store, and sits in her car to attempt to find momentary peace and to come down from the moment.  Initially the scene comes off as comedic as her tirade against the store employee is quite hilarious. Yet after she leaves the store, the pain on her face is palpable, as she feels much regret and shame for what has occurred. Pansy needs time to recover, but it is impossible, as a person wants her parking spot and she loses control again.  Her chance for reprieve is cut short and she remains in an elevated state.  Scenes like these are remarkable, because for many individuals like Pansy, their emotions are uncontrollable and they experience extreme bouts of guilt immediately after a breakdown.

It seems, for Pansy, that this is normal for her.  She never gets enough rest and constantly tells her sister Chantal (Michele Austin) that she’s tired.  She often needs to sleep in the day and never seems to get enough downtime.  This experience is faced by many people who have hyperfixations or overstimulation and the lack of reprieve can cause their symptoms to worsen.  It’s quite miraculous how Leigh can treat this character with such empathy and truly show her the way she is, as a complex human who faces internal struggles.  He never makes her come off as crazy or treats her as a malicious person – which many filmmakers consistently do to neurodivergent characters.

It’s not Leigh’s precision alone in crafting the character of Pansy that creates such a fully developed and remarkable person.  Marianne Jean-Baptiste gives a staggering performance – one for all time.  Undeniably, Jean-Baptiste navigates her character’s emotions and humanity, and never misses a beat.  She portrays Pansy’s pain through sorrow, humor, and humility with every emotion on her face showing every emotion that her character is experiencing.  She controls every moment she’s on screen.

Her co-actors also give phenomenal performances.  Michele Austin, playing Pansy’s sister Chantal, brings great warmth and understanding to the film.  Much of the film’s success is due to her ability to transcend her character and become an anchor to bring understanding to Pansy.  David Webber plays Pansy’s husband Curtley, and his sorrow and temperance show in every moment.  Webber portrays the pain Curtley has faced as he’s had to live with his wife over the years, as her untreated conditions worsen – and yet, his misunderstanding and inability to help her rings through in every emotion on his face.  Lastly, Tuwaine Barrett gives a deep and nuanced performance playing Pansy’s lumbering adult son Moses.  Moses grew up with his mother and has become withdrawn due to her neuroticism and constant nagging.  Somehow and with great deftness, Barrett still creates a fully rounded character from his more limited time on screen.  It is monumental how strong these performances are – and there’s no denying that these may be the best we see from any performers or ensemble in 2024.  

While Leigh magnificently directs his actors, he also remains a master at the control of light, space, and sound in his film.  There are interior shots of light hitting the characters’ faces.  In one beautiful moment cinematographer Dick Pope shoots the shadows from the blinds on Pansy’s character.  Shots like these add even more complexity and depth to the film.  Likewise, the sound design, which at many times consists of simple outdoor noises such as birds chirping, gives nuance to the film and keeps it from ever getting close to becoming melodramatic.  Very few directors can control sets and lighting like this and Leigh does it with ease.

The major scenes of the film are set on Mother’s Day.  In one, Pansy and Chantal visit their mother’s grave and there’s a remarkable moment in which Chantal confronts Pansy.  Chantal holds back from confronting her sister’s behavior for much of the film, but in this scene her true love and care for her sister comes through.  Chantal navigates her affection for Pansy while also showing her dissatisfaction with Pansy’s constant vigilance.  In response, Pansy shows her distress, and states “I don’t know why I’m like this”.  It’s a frustration for so many people, who don’t have the ability to speak to anyone about their emotions and their mind.  There’s never a reprieve and yet there’s internal frustration and shame.  There’s never a real explanation until there’s self-acceptance, and once Leigh gets to the later parts of his film there is a spark of hope for Pansy, much like there is a spark of hope that Leigh’s film can itself create acceptance for many individuals and perhaps even for cinema itself.