‘Hard Truths’: San Sebastián Review

Dir. Mike Leigh. UK/Spain 2024. 97 minutes. 

If there’s something oddly acquainted about Mike Leigh’s Onerous Truths, it’s not that the revered British film-maker is repeating himself. Somewhat, it’s as a result of his new movie is so densely patterned with echoes of his earlier work that it brings an additional layer of fascination to this emotionally trenchant piece. Following his massively bold interval productions Mr Turner and Peterloo, the director returns to what is likely to be thought of the quintessential Leigh mode of tightly-framed home drama, and does so with distinctive chunk.

As resonant and as satisfying as something within the Leigh canon.  

Premiered in Toronto and now competing in San Sebastián earlier than heading for a London gala slot, Onerous Truths options excellent performances from Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Michele Austin, heading a predominantly Black ensemble forged –  a shift of focus which can nicely broaden Leigh’s viewers on each side of the Atlantic.

The motion begins in a leafy suburban avenue in London, and one home, whose closed-in porch and shuttered home windows recommend inhabitants hiding from the world. That is the house of Pansy (Jean-Baptiste), a girl in late center age who begins her day by waking in panic, and spends the remainder of it venting her rage. Medical doctors, dentists, grocery store cashiers –everybody incurs the explosive wrath of a bitterly sad lady devoured by misanthropy, neurosis, resentment and worry. Her emotions appear to have drained the life out of her ineffectual plumber husband Curtley (David Webber) and their unemployed, introverted 22-year-old son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett), who disappears on lengthy walks when not taking refuge in his headphones.

In contrast, Pansy’s hairdresser sister Chantelle (long-time Leigh common Austin) is an empathetic soul who can deal with her personal sorrows but additionally embrace pleasure, and whose grownup daughters Kayla (Ani Nelson) and Aleisha (Sophia Brown) pursue their careers (in cosmetics and regulation respectively) whereas dwelling life to the total. Chantelle’s salon performs an analogous perform right here to the photographer’s studio in Secrets and techniques And Lies and the tailor’s in Vera Drake, showcasing a gallery of succinct however wealthy character cameos. Certainly, Onerous Truths is characteristically wealthy in supporting roles, from Jonathan Livingstone’s deadpan flip as Curtley’s talkative co-worker Virgil, to Samantha Spiro as Kayla’s glibly abusive boss.

Jean-Baptiste gained large acclaim in Leigh’s 1996 Palme d’Or winner Secrets and techniques And Lies, however she outdoes herself right here in a task that’s arguably tougher as a result of Pansy is so rebarbative. She fulminates, flings insults, retreats right into a gap of self-pity – but Jean-Baptiste without delay makes her grimly comedian and retains us intrigued to find the softer core of this profoundly broken lady – particularly in her silent moments, when the straightforward quiver of her lip speaks volumes.

Hardly a radiant flower, Pansy is likely to be thought of a mirror picture of hyper-optimist Poppy in Leigh’s Blissful-Go-Fortunate. And this movie’s title suggests a pendant to Secrets and techniques And Lies: each characteristic a household get-together by which repressed feelings nicely to the floor. These and different echoes and reversals aren’t simply fodder for Leigh’s followers, however carry added depth and complexity to an already densely-conceived movie.

Little doubt there shall be some debate over Leigh’s {qualifications} to painting this explicit milieu, a middle-class and higher working-class sector of London’s Afro-Caribbean neighborhood. However allowing for his well-known collaborative working strategies, it’s clear simply how a lot the forged have contribute to the movie’s cultural element. Whereas the dramatic premise is hardly particular to a Black atmosphere, the references and linguistic patterns really feel bang-on – notably Pansy’s shifting between Cockney and Caribbean inflections. It’s in fact controversial that being Black within the UK is an integral a part of Pansy’s, and different characters’, wrestle in life – though racism per se solely figures implicitly, most obvious within the scene the place Spiro’s pink-suited exec makes an attempt to humiliate Kayla.  

Dick Pope’s images, whereas seemingly unflashy to the purpose of being self-effacing, is extra finely calibrated than ever – as witness the starkly eloquent framing of a shot exhibiting a bunch of flowers in a gray, featureless kitchen. Equally, each element of Suzie Davies’s manufacturing design, and of Jacqueline Durran’s costumes, provides its personal which means to the drama that in its spare approach, is as resonant and as satisfying as something within the Leigh canon.