Hard Truths

Mike Leigh: Hard Truths (GB 2024). Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Pansy) and Michele Austin (Chantal).

Deux sœurs / Kovia totuuksia / Hard Truths [Swedish title].

    GB/ES 2024. Société de production : Film4 ; Thin Man Films ; The Mediapro Studio ; Creativity Media. Production : Georgina Lowe. Production déléguée : Gail Egan, Daniel Battsek, Jennifer Eriksson, Mark Gooder, Andrew Karpen, Richard Kondal, Ollie Madden, Javier Mendez, Javier Pons, Kent Sanderson et Alison Thompson

    Réalisation : Mike Leigh

Scénario : Mike Leigh

Photographie : Dick Pope – format : couleur — 2,39:1 — son 5.1

Décors : Suzie Davies

Costumes : Jacqueline Durran

Musique : Gary Yershon

Montage : Tania Reddin

    Distribution

Marianne Jean-Baptiste : Pansy

David Webber : Curtley

Michele Austin : Chantal

Tuwaine Barrett : Moses

Sophia Brown : Aleisha

Jonathan Livingstone : Virgil

Ani Nelson : Kayla

Tiwa Lade : Savannah

Samantha Spiro : Nicole

Ruby Bentall : le médecin

    Durée : 97 minutes

Langue originale : anglais

Genre : Comédie dramatique

    Dates de sortie :

Toronto International Film Festival: 6 Sep 2024.

Brésil : 6 septembre 2024

Canada : 6 septembre 2024 (Toronto), 24 janvier 2025 (en salles)

Espagne : 26 septembre 2024 (Saint-Sébastien)

Royaume-Uni : 14 octobre 2024 (Londres), 31 janvier 2025 (en salles)

Finlande : 21 mars 2025 – Cinema Mondo

France : 2 avril 2025 – société de distribution : Diaphana Distribution – sous-titres francais: Harold Manning.

    British Independent Film Awards 2024 : meilleure interprétation pour Marianne Jean-Baptiste

    Vu samedi, le 5 avril 2025 UGC Ciné Cité Les Halles, Salle 4, Pl. de la Rotonde Forum des Halles, accès Porte du Jour, M° Les Halles, Ligne 4, Paris 1er 

Wikipedia: "Hard Truths is a 2024 comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh, starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Michele Austin, and David Webber. Set in London, its plot follows the plight of a depressed and nay-saying woman (Jean-Baptiste) and the relationship with her jovial sister Chantelle (Austin)."

Wikipedia synopsis: "Pansy Deacon is a depressed and anxious woman who lives with her meek plumber husband Curtley and her layabout adult son Moses, the latter of whom she constantly chastises for his lack of aspirations. Her short temper causes her to argue with and criticize everyone she meets, whether they be her family or strangers, and her anxiety is so severe that she loathes going outside and is disgusted by animals and flowers. Her sister Chantelle, a single hairdresser with two adult daughters, continually presses her to come to their mother Pearl's grave on Mother's Day for the fifth anniversary of her death, which she hesitates to do."

"After spending the days leading up to the anniversary getting into fights with strangers, Pansy goes with Chantelle to the grave, where she insists that Pearl gave Chantelle preferential treatment and put undeserved pressure on her after their father left them. As Chantelle denies the former claim, Pansy admits her fear that her family hates her, and Chantelle comforts her, promising that she loves her despite her issues."

"The sisters go to Chantelle's flat for a Mother's Day celebration with their families, where Pansy, convinced that her fears about her family are true, is morose and silent. Chantelle pulls her aside and she admits that she married Curtley out of desperation but is unable to bring herself to divorce him, leaving her isolated and lonely. Returning to the party, she learns that Moses bought her flowers as a gift, contradicting her earlier belief that he would do nothing for Mother's Day. Pansy laughs hysterically before breaking down sobbing, thanking her son through tears."

"When the Deacons return home, Pansy anxiously puts the flowers in a vase and leaves the patio door open, but after she leaves, Curtley throws them outside and shuts the door. The next day, he injures his back on the job and sends his coworker to wake Pansy, who becomes so anxious when he enters her bedroom that she cannot go downstairs. As a young woman approaches Moses while he is out on a walk, Curtley silently weeps downstairs while Pansy remains in her bedroom."

AA: Mike Leigh's Hard Truths is a chamber play as a catastrophe film. Leigh explores the dynamics of a dysfunctional family with a courage, directness, openness to vulnerability and psychological depth that invites comparison with John Cassavetes. The performance of Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Pansy can be compared with Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence and Love Streams.

Something on the spectrum of a mental disorder has hit Pansy. We don't know if it's neurological or a result of overwhelming burdens at home and in society. There is a mystery: why is Pansy such a monster while her sister Chantal is so sunny (though far from Poppy/Sally Hawkins in Happy-Go-Lucky)? The secret may lie buried in their mother's grave.

Secrets and Lies, Part Two? This time harder to solve, impossible to even articulate if it is a social issue of race, class and gender.

Pansy's pain is unbearable, and everybody gets to share it. Laughter turns to tears. This is a house where joy is absent. The wife turns to a stranger to her husband, the mother to her son. Pansy's journey is a gauntlet of meanness and insults. The husband Curtley hurts his back in a workplace accident. Bad karma at home or work can make everybody sick or prone to accidents.

The son Moses has resigned to apathy, but in the finale a young woman looks at him in a certain way, and they ride a bicycle together.

The film ends in silent images of the housefront.

A lovely score by David Yershon is like balm for a wounded skin.