Hard Truths

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Hard Truths

Released Jan 10

1h 37m

Comedy

Drama

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Popcornmeter

95%

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156 Reviews

82%

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100+ Verified Ratings

Legendary filmmaker Mike Leigh returns to the contemporary world with a fierce, compassionate, and often darkly humorous study of family and the thorny ties that bind us. Reunited with Leigh for the first time since multiple Oscar-nominated Secrets and Lies, the astonishing Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays Pansy, a woman wracked by fear, tormented by afflictions, and prone to raging tirades against her husband, son, and anyone who looks her way. Meanwhile, her easygoing younger sister, played by Michele Austin (Another Year), is a single mother with a life as different from Pansy's as their clashing temperaments -- brimming with communal warmth from her salon clients and daughters alike. This expansive film from a master dramatist takes us into the intensities of kinship, duty, and the most enduring of human mysteries: that even through lifetimes of hurt and hardship, we still find ways to love those we call family.

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Critics Consensus

Marianne Jean-Baptiste puts on a prickly masterclass in Hard Truths, another superb character study from writer-director Mike Leigh.

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Danny Leigh

Financial Times

Call it the sorrow of the ordinary front door, of which Hard Truths grows into a graceful study. Credit to Jean-Baptiste and the actors. And to Leigh, for making, at 81, one of the best films of his career.

Rated: 4/5

Feb 8, 2025

Full Review

Wendy Ide

Observer (UK)

Make no mistake, these performances are certainly worth the weight of attention that is placed upon them. But great turns don’t always amount to a great picture.

Rated: 3/5

Feb 5, 2025

Full Review

Laura Venning

Empire Magazine

A gruelling but ultimately rewarding experience, this is Leigh at his most confrontational, devastating and humane, aided by the unadulterated power of Jean-Baptiste’s career-redefining performance.

Rated: 4/5

Feb 4, 2025

Full Review

Chuck Bowen

Style Weekly (Richmond, VA)

Marvel at the vividness of the demons that Jean-Baptiste has been able to conjure in this extraordinary performance: Her exorcism is our rapture.

Feb 18, 2025

Full Review

Ray Pride

Newcity

Its searing virtues work from surfaces and deepen, until its wordless final passages, where one character finds hope and two others must, or die... Pansy is one of the great portraits of contemporary depression and loneliness.

Rated: 10/10

Feb 13, 2025

Full Review

Latoya Austin

Movie Marker

Hard Truths is an enjoyable, unfettered microscopic gaze behind closed doors within the pride of Caribbean households with other rituals of Caribbean home life ... Hard Truths presents no easy answers and is subtle but illuminating

Rated: 4/5

Feb 13, 2025

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Nigel M

Good movie that shows what can happen if you let unresolved issues linger in your life. It can affect how you feel about yourself, how others feel about you, and how you approach the world.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/14/25

Full Review

Patricia

This movie was outstanding. Every single actor in this movie were so good, and so believable. The main actor and her sister were phenomenal. The husband, son, and the two daughters of the sister were also really good. They brought the story together. The struggle between hopefulness and hopelessness was on full display in this movie. You will do yourself a favor to see the movie. It speaks to many of our common emotions.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/30/25

Full Review

menachem

The acting is superb, but the movie is a little slow at times. If you grew up around depression or narcissism or schizophrenia, you might be a little triggered, but overall the movie does an amazing job and showing what the reality of living with mental health issues in a home can be like and its affects on the people around the sufferers.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/30/25

Full Review

K

Still thinking about it hours later, in a good way.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/30/25

Full Review

Larry S

A psychologically rich examination of intergenerational trauma with comedic moments. this Superbly acted.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/29/25

Full Review

Yo’

I have never snot-nosed cried in a movie theater!… until now. This movie is so raw and yet you leave slightly with hope but with more questions that you came with. I’ve never really hated and loved a character this much.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/29/25

Full Review

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Mike Leigh

Director

Marianne Jean-Baptiste

Actor

Michele Austin

Actor

David Webber

Actor

Tuwaine Barrett

Actor

Ani Nelson

Actor

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Hard Truths: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Legendary filmmaker Mike Leigh returns to the contemporary world with a fierce, compassionate, and often darkly humorous study of family and the thorny ties that bind us. Reunited with Leigh for the first time since multiple Oscar-nominated Secrets and Lies, the astonishing Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays Pansy, a woman wracked by fear, tormented by afflictions, and prone to raging tirades against her husband, son, and anyone who looks her way. Meanwhile, her easygoing younger sister, played by Michele Austin (Another Year), is a single mother with a life as different from Pansy's as their clashing temperaments -- brimming with communal warmth from her salon clients and daughters alike. This expansive film from a master dramatist takes us into the intensities of kinship, duty, and the most enduring of human mysteries: that even through lifetimes of hurt and hardship, we still find ways to love those we call family.

Director: Mike Leigh
Producer: Georgina Lowe
Screenwriter: Mike Leigh, Mike Leigh
Distributor: Bleecker Street
Production Co: Thin Man Films, The Mediapro Studio, Film4
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 10, 2025, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 11, 2025
Runtime: 1h 37m

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