Hard Truths

Play trailer

2:13

Hard Truths

Now Playing

1h 37m

Comedy

Drama

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

94%

Tomatometer

115 Reviews

75%

Popcornmeter

50+ 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.

Now in Theaters

Now Playing

Buy Tickets

Critics Consensus

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

Read Critics Reviews

Katie Walsh

Tribune News Service

In partnership with his actors, Leigh excavates and displays the most vulnerable emotions and experiences a person can have, his films slowly building to cathartic crescendos, with glimmers of hope and salvation shining through.

Rated: 4/4

Jan 18, 2025

Full Review

Kat Sachs

Chicago Reader

I’d qualify this as minor Leigh but with major performances; as the antagonistic protagonist Pansy, Marianne Jean-Baptiste (previously acclaimed for her role in Leigh’s 1996 film Secrets & Lies) is hilarious and heartbreaking.

Jan 16, 2025

Full Review

Dennis Harvey

Variety

Pansy is exhausting, for the viewer as well as her family, and the film doesn’t provide the catharsis needed to turn so much bile into a path toward redemption… or anything, really.

Jan 15, 2025

Full Review

Sean P. Means

The Movie Cricket

As Leigh and Jean-Baptiste dig deeper into Pansy’s life, the audience starts to understand the roots of Pansy’s constant anger, and we start choking on those chuckles.

Rated: 3.5/4

Jan 18, 2025

Full Review

Michael Nordine

Movie Brief

It’s to Leigh and Jean-Baptiste’s infinite credit that they inspire you to ponder just why Pansy is the way she is rather than roll your eyes and write her off as a lost cause.

Rated: 3/4

Jan 17, 2025

Full Review

Jared Mobarak

Jaredmobarak.com

But it's Jean-Baptiste who shines brightest by showcasing her talent to maintain humanity through despicable behavior. For all the bile [Pansy] spews, the person who ends up hurt most by it is her.

Rated: 8/10

Jan 17, 2025

Full Review

Read all reviews

orlando.vera.6758

Powerful and moving. Incredible performances.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/22/25

Full Review

Pennie

I found it rough to watch the main character whos in most scenes rant and rave abusively at everyone and thing hard to deal with. In fact I was so depressed when I left that I checked the board to see if I could clear my pallet by right away seeing another film. The acting was excellent. But that was part of the problem-all this suffering for what purpose? It was just sad.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/22/25

Full Review

Diane L

What a Rollercoaster ride! High highs. Low lows. Sadness. Happiness. Connection. Loneliness. Whew. The acting is superb. The story feels true. I left the theater feeling sad. I plan to see this film again.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/21/25

Full Review

PAUL F

Absolutely, stunning and extraordinary central performance that deserves recognition at the Oscars, both brutally funnier times and deeply moving a must seeIm

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/21/25

Full Review

Shannon P

Very moving, but could have used more background info and the end was ambiguous

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/20/25

Full Review

Carol

Touching, precious film with great acting. Transported into the story immediately.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/19/25

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Mike Leigh

Director

Marianne Jean-Baptiste

Actor

Michele Austin

Actor

David Webber

Actor

Tuwaine Barrett

Actor

Ani Nelson

Actor

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

Goodrich

81%

86%

Goodrich

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Goodrich

Gamma Rays

100%

%

Gamma Rays

Watchlist

60 Miles North

%

%

60 Miles North

Watchlist

The Best Man

72%

86%

The Best Man

Watchlist

I Used to be Funny

83%

72%

I Used to be Funny

Watchlist

TRAILER

for I Used to be Funny

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Anora Wins Best Picture at Los Angeles Film Critics

Rotten Tomatoes Predicts the 2025 Golden Globe Nominations

8 Best Films From The Fall Festivals

Hard Truths: Trailer 1

2:13

View more videos

View more photos

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
Runtime: 1h 37m

Most Popular at Home Now