Hard Truths

Now that Hard Truths is finally in U.K. cinemas, we can fully appreciate why Marianne Jean-Baptiste should have received an Oscar nomination.

Mike Leigh’s latest drama stars Baptiste as Pansy Deacon, an angry, depressed and paranoid woman who takes her feelings out on others.

Nobody can do anything right, everyone is out to get her and every encounter becomes a confrontation.

This London-based story doesn’t have a traditional plot and instead tries to understand Pansy and why she has such a short fuse.

It explores her relationships with her husband Curtley (David Webber), son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett), sister Chantelle (Michele Austin) and nieces Kayla (Ani Nelson) and Aleisha (Sophia Brown) and shows how her argumentative nature has affected them.

While her caring sister Chantelle is more tolerant with Pansy and invites her to events – such as a Mother’s Day celebration – Pansy’s husband and son try to escape...