Mike Leigh, Britain’s poet laureate of the working class, reunites with Marianne Jean-Baptiste almost 30 years after they collaborated on the superb Secrets & Lies for this portrait of two very different sisters trying to cope with the long shadow of familial trauma.
How to watch Hard Truths in New Zealand
Hard Truths opens in New Zealand cinemas on March 13, 2025.
What is Hard Truths about?
Short tempered, prickly Pansy Deacon, wracked with agoraphobia and disappointed by her plumber husband and layabout adult son, is a waking criticism machine, verbally laying into anyone who irks her. Her sister, Chantelle, a hairdresser with two adult daughters, is the complete opposite. As the anniversary of their mother’s death approaches, Chantelle urges Pansy to visit the grave, and from such a small beginning a wrenching emotional journey is born.
Not much actually happens, but that’s beside the point. Leigh’s films are sharply observed and naturalistically performed, and it’s the palpable sense of rough-hewn humanity he brings to the screen that impresses the viewer.
The cast of Hard Truths
Marianne Jean-Baptiste is Pansy Deacon; Michele Austin is her sister, Chantelle; David Webber is Curtley Deacon, Pansy’s meek husband; Tuwaine Barrett is Moses Deacon, Pansy’s son; Ani Nelson is Kayla; Sophia Brown is Aleisha; Jonathan Livingstone is Virgil; and Samantha Spiro is Nicole.
Hard Truths trailer
Why we’re excited about Hard Truths
As you might expect, critics have been more than effusive in their praise of Leigh’s latest, which is pretty much par for the course when it comes to his work. Still, with the Naked and Vera Drake director now 82, we’re probably not going to get too many more improvisational slice-of-life gems out of him. And the space for this kind of intimate, low key drama is definitely shrinking as the box office is dominated by four-quadrant CGI spectacles, so it might be worth making the effort to check out the latest from one of the UK’s masters while you still can.
