Monday Night Cinema

Hard Truths

Present-day London. Middle-aged sisters Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) and Chantal (Michele Auston) could not be more different. Chantal is cheerful and empathetic. Pansy, on the other hand, is argumentative, hypersensitive and full of anger, with her husband Curtley (David Webber) and grown-up son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett) bearing the brunt of her emotional outbursts. As Mother’s Day approaches, things are at breaking point, unless Chantal can somehow help her sister…

Acclaimed director Mike Leigh returns to contemporary London for this character-driven family drama. An exceptional cast, led by Jean-Baptiste (Oscar-nominated in Leigh’s Secrets & Lies), breathe life into the family’s characters, providing a dynamic that is complex, layered and nuanced. At turns tough, darkly funny and hugely compassionate, Hard Truths never feels contrived or melodramatic. Easily one of Leigh’s best.