Hard Truths

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Hard Truths

Jan 2025

1h 37m

Comedy

Drama

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Popcornmeter

95%

Tomatometer

185 Reviews

82%

Popcornmeter

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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Namrata Joshi

The New Indian Express

Hard Truths makes for an endlessly hard watch with a seemingly unfluctuating screenplay (as static as Pansy’s own life) moving from one simmering encounter of hers to another.

May 29, 2025

Full Review

Wenlei Ma

The Nightly (AU)

It’s a character-driven drama that jolts you awake to how pain can manifest in people, and why even the most annoying ones are deserving of compassion.

Rated: 4/5

Mar 12, 2025

Full Review

Stephen Romei

The Australian

Jean-Baptiste is amazing as this shouty, judgmental, frightened, lonely woman...she delivers a performance for the ages.

Rated: 3.5/5

Mar 7, 2025

Full Review

Mauricio Jarufe Caballero

Cinencuentro

If a Pansy exists in real life, let's hope she's surrounded by characters like these, and if her story is to be adapted for film, it'd better be with the warmth and moral conviction that Mike Leigh suggests in his films. [Full review in Spanish]

Sep 19, 2025

Full Review

Marta Medina

mundoCine

[Hard Truths] offers a meticulously crafted character study, anchored by Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s powerful performance. [Full Review in Spanish]

Rated: 3.5/5

Aug 20, 2025

Full Review

Patrick Beatty

ABC4 Utah

Writer/Director Mike Leigh gives his best film to date with “Hard Truths” and has honed his craft of storytelling.

Aug 11, 2025

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Gary G

I never thought I'd find a more miserable character than a certain person in my life. It made me realize it could be worse.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/23/25

Full Review

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

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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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