Director: Mike Leigh
Starring: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Michele Austin, David Webber, Tuwaine Barrett, Ani Nelson, Sophia Brown, Jonathan Livingstone
Certificate: 12A
Run Time: 97 mins

Hard Truths is the new film by Mike Leigh film, who returns to the trademark kitchen sink improvised drama he’s most notable for. Leigh’s last two films – Mr Turner and Peterloo were historical dramas and while I loved the former, the latter was underwhelming. In Hard Truths, Leigh reunites with Secrets and Lies star Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who plays Pansy Deacon, a woman with a short temper who criticises anything and everything. She lives with her quiet plumber husband, Curtley (David Webber) and overweight and jobless but kind-hearted adult son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett). It quickly becomes apparent, though, that Pansy is a deeply troubled woman battling severe anxiety and depression and her sister Chantelle (Michele Austin) tries to ease her out of it.

Hard Truths is another striking addition in Leigh’s filmography and is often very funny but simultaneously devastating. An early scene in a supermarket is particularly rib-tickling as Pansy comes to blows with fellow customers. That devastation slowly invades the humour, though, as the film progresses, and the result is one of Leigh’s most crushing works.

Marianne Jean-Baptiste is phenomenal as Pansy, but her performance is matched by both Webber and Barrett as her husband and son and the dynamic between the three of them is perfectly judged. I really felt for all of them and could understand their perspectives on the simmering situation. In what’s sadly his last film, the late Dick Pope shoots the film beautifully and it’s complimented by a prickly score by Leigh-regular Gary Yershon.

But I wanted more. Aside from Career Girls, Hard Truths is Leigh’s shortest film. The film ends on an affecting dilemma, leaving how the scenario is going to play out to the audience’s imagination. While that’s an effective technique and leaves one wanting more, the lack of development towards this crescendo (compared to his other films where he tends to take his time) felt uncharacteristically slight. Ultimately, it’s testament to the powerful and vivid characters Leigh’s created that meant I wanted more. Still, Hard Truths is a very powerful piece of work that goes straight up into his top tier of work.