de facto film reviews 3 stars

Hard Truths, filmmaker Mike Leigh’s first film since 2018’s Peterloo, is a return to familiar territory the master director. Reuniting with his Secrets & Lies star, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Leigh’s film places Baptiste as one of the most disagreeable people you are ever likely to see on-screen without being an outright villain. Penny is a woman in obvious pain, constantly lashing out at others. As the film unfolds, we are unsure how much of this misery is of her own making and how much is from other sources. As the story progresses, we discover new layers to her onion.

This being a Mike Leigh film, it is a very slow burn, full of long sequences without dialogue and full of anguish. It is, however, not without some shatteringly funny moments, which also serve to highlight how terribly poorly Pansy is doing. Her son, a grown man, lives at home, while his father is so closed off nobody can get him to open up about anything. Pansy’s sister, Charlene, and her adult daughter, are lively, mostly satisfied people, with friends they enjoy spending time with and interests beyond extending misery to all they encounter.

'Hard Truths'

Courtesy Bleeker Street

If it was not for the caliber of acting in this film, Mike Leigh would have one of his truly lesser films. The acting, particularly Baptiste, saves the film. There are moments when her rage and bitterness threaten to engulf the viewer and their patience, but this is the entire point of the film. You are supposed to suffer, along with her and those around her, in order to really grow to know and understand what has caused her to become this way.

When that answer comes, as much as it does, it is a simple yet powerful and very relatable thing. This is a hallmark of many of Leighs works, where the revelations, twists, turns, deepening, or understandings, originate or occur within or because of the mundane. This is owed in large part to Leigh remaining one of the last true Kitchen Sink artists yet working, and it is a reason you may love his work as easily as you may despise or be left cold by it. The final scene, in particular, is typical of Leigh’s career. He is not a director that holds your hand or tells you what to think or feel.

Mike Leigh's Hard Truths

Courtesy Bleeker Street

This is also the final film shot by cinematographer and longtime Leigh collaborator, Dick Pope. This film does not call for the period flourishes found in a Topsy Turvy, Vera Drake, Peterloo or Mr. Turner. Instead, it calls back to the stark reality of Secrets and Lies or Life is Sweet, basking in the everyday that Leigh embraces. After nearly thirty-five years of working together, the look of a Leigh film is as much the responsibility of Pope as anyone else, and here, the lighting captures each face in just the right way, the camera holding their look in order to create intimacy with the audience. It is a symbiosis of photographer and director that will be missed.

While the cast is exceptional, there are times the film suffers from not allowing us in early enough. The pacing is off in that we spend too much time watching characters we have no immediate connection to or interest in, trying to build such and that it happens is largely down to the trust one has in Leigh’s talents. You know he will get the job done, eventually. It is just that, as with Mr. Turner, it takes nearly a third of the run time for you to care deeply about anyone, though by then you will have accrued interest. This is ultimately a very intimate film, full of such tiny, delightful grace notes, that the big picture is not always as important or enjoyable as those moments. Like many Leigh films, it very purposely slows to a crawl but keeps moving, inexorably, toward a powerful, if quiet, resolution.

HARD TRUTHS is now playing in limited theaters. It opens wider on Friday, January 17th.