Directed by Mike Leigh, Hard Truths introduces us to Pansy, a mother with a dramatic personality. The focus of Pansy’s world is her family, who seem to be clambering up in the face of her anger and lack of joy in the world. The film shows Pansy’s family in different vignettes that allows the audience to get glimpse of their personality and struggles, revealing how Pansy affects her son Moses and husband Curtley. This contrasts with the joy and hope in Pansy’s sister Chantal, whose family experiences joy despite the challenges.
The film analyzes the way that our personalities can affect each other, especially in the domestic household. Moses, Pansy’s son, is introverted and nervous but the negatives of those personality traits come out in the face of his mean-spirited mother, whose advice and instructions are always mixed with malice. This makes Moses seem closed off from the world, creating anxiety for the audience in regards to what is going on inside his head. That same goes for her husband Curtley who struggles to balance his life in the face of a controlled (but tiring) work life and the contentious chaos of his home.
As every Leigh and dramatic film does, all characters come together to have their life incidents and their personalities clash in a muted (but anxiety-inducing) way. Leigh plays with the power of silence and how it can create a void in us as humans and social creatures. Truths proves that even those closed off from the world on purpose cannot stay there and, even more importantly, cannot be pushed back. The result is a family not foregone by ego, wealth or even direct malice but by the way that they have allowed their personalities to bring out the worst in one another. The film does hint at hope for this family in repair but how that will manifest is left subtle.
Hard Truths is playing at TIFF ’24. For more information, click here.
