Hard Truths (2024)

The critic calls the film a searing portrait of a woman on the brink that does incredible things in small, measured strokes. Pansy is highlighted as one of the most fascinating and rich characters in any film this century.

Leigh's tragi-comedy is one of the very few great films of 2024, a character study of near-febrile vitality. The film singles out Marianne Jean-Baptiste's dazzling, compassionate performance as the pain-driven Pansy for particular praise.

The critic deems the film magnificent and praises its unapologetic focus on a prickly, difficult human being with empathy and skill. Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s towering, real performance is singled out as formidable and heartbreaking.

The critic offers a compassionate portrait of a woman on the brink, praising Marianne Jean-Baptiste for channeling an anger that feels excruciatingly real and Leigh's willingness to meet characters at eye level without condescension.

The review calls the film harrowing and hilarious, centred on a staggering lead performance by Marianne Jean-Baptiste as a ferocious and funny curmudgeon. Leigh is celebrated for returning to core territory of portraying ordinary lives with a huge sympathetic heart.

The film stands as Mike Leigh’s finest work since Happy-Go-Lucky, a character study of an agitated, phobia-addled woman whose rants mix comedy and pathos rooted in unarticulated grief. The critic singles out the whiplash shifts from comedy to devastation and the director’s attention to silences and changing minds in dialogue scenes.

Leigh's blisteringly funny and crushingly sad new movie features Jean-Baptiste giving the performance of the year as the profoundly unhappy Pansy. The film is singled out for its entertaining viciousness and bruised exhilaration alongside its emotional egalitarianism.

The critic deems it marvelous and a welcome return for Leigh, praising Marianne Jean-Baptiste's transcendent performance as a woman whose pathological hostility masks deep fear and anxiety, while noting the film's hilarious yet unnerving tone.

The critic highlights Marianne Jean-Baptiste's colossal performance as a woman at war with the world in this spiky, small drama that serves as the polar opposite of Happy-Go-Lucky. It praises the film's sharp take on family dynamics and Leigh's direction.

The critic calls it a classic Mike Leigh drama without compromise, praising Marianne Jean-Baptiste's astonishing, nuanced turn as a force of acerbic misery and the film's rewarding exploration of family, grief, and acceptance.

The review describes the film as gruelling but ultimately rewarding, with Leigh at his most confrontational and humane. Jean-Baptiste’s astonishing, career-redefining performance as a woman in crisis is highlighted as the film’s powerful core.

Leigh's misanthropic drama is a puckeringly sour delight that turns time with the most insufferable woman into time well spent. Jean-Baptiste's flamethrower performance as the rage-filled Pansy is singled out as the film's burning core.

The critic calls it a poignant character study that excels at revealing deep-rooted issues through an unlikeable yet empathetic lead. Jean-Baptiste’s performance is highlighted as greatly empathetic and full of guile.

The critic finds the film makes you laugh and cry, highlighting a titanic performance from Marianne Jean-Baptiste as a vessel of formless rage. Leigh is praised for rendering small beauties out of the ordinary and revealing the soul inside a difficult character.

The critic describes the film as a pungent-but-poignant character study of a woman stuck in anger and resentment. Jean-Baptiste’s remarkable performance is singled out for creating a richly drawn character with deep empathy.

The critic finds the film an emotionally trenchant piece that echoes Leigh’s earlier work while offering a superb central performance. Jean-Baptiste’s portrayal of a rebarbative yet intriguing woman is singled out for making her grimly comic and compelling.

The critic praises Mike Leigh’s empathetic tragicomedy for its focus on a hostile yet fragile woman and celebrates the director’s irreplaceable place in British cinema. Jean-Baptiste’s fearless lead performance and the film’s blend of comedy and pain are singled out as highlights.

Marianne Jean-Baptiste gives an exceptional performance as a woman in the terrifying endgame of depression. The film is a deeply sober and compassionate drama about a black British family, with flashes of fun, returning Leigh to his classic contemporary style.

The critic finds it a solid, mid-tier Mike Leigh film boosted by a bravura performance from Marianne Jean-Baptiste as a perpetually hostile woman whose anger alienates her family. It praises the vivid portrait of psychic pain, collateral damage, and flashes of humor and tenderness.

Anchored by Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s incendiary performance, this is a scorching family drama of depression, rage and love that is biting and bleakly witty.

Mike Leigh is back on form in this gruelling tale with a bilious protagonist brought to life by Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s ferocious performance. It reminds viewers of the importance of asking why someone may be behaving badly.

Leigh builds a prickly but fair micro-portrait around Jean-Baptiste, giving her the role of her career even if the story is slender. The film is singled out for its profound poetry in every scene and the way observation of Pansy may shift how we see the world.

The film is a quietly heartbreaking yet funny portrait that reveals much about the human condition through its depiction of everyday life. The critic singles out Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s tremendous, award-worthy performance as the angry yet depressed Pansy for praise.

The critic praises Mike Leigh's intimate family drama for its sharp character work and Marianne Jean-Baptiste's standout performance as the rage-filled Pansy, calling it one of the year's best. The film is seen as a strong return to Leigh's signature style of building complex worlds through actors, even as it leaves some emotional truths open-ended.

The film is an extraordinarily moving and wrenching gem that creates deep empathy for its difficult central character. Leigh's subtle, intimate approach and the performances, especially Jean-Baptiste's, are singled out for praise.

The critic finds the film starts funny with Pansy's rants but reveals her mental health struggles, singling out Jean-Baptiste's tragicomic tour-de-force performance as the standout element that draws viewers into her difficult life.

The terse, blunt film offers a frustrating yet heartbreaking portrait of chronic unhappiness and isolation without easy catharsis or diagnosis. The critic singles out Jean-Baptiste’s astonishingly vivid performance for revealing the pain behind the belligerence.

The film is a bleak and depressing look at a thoroughly unlikable character with little hope or redemption. Jean-Baptiste's magnificent performance is singled out for praise amid the overall sadness.

The review calls Hard Truths Mike Leigh's best film in more than a decade, highlighting its empathetic portrait of post-COVID isolation and mental health struggles through a strong Black British cast. Jean-Baptiste's complex, heartbreaking lead performance anchors the film's sincere slice-of-life approach.

The critic praises Marianne Jean-Baptiste's powerhouse performance as the angry, unhappy Pansy, highlighting how it makes the character unforgettable and haunting. They note the film's ambiguous ending leaves questions unanswered but emphasizes the emotional impact.