Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths” is a strikingly empathetic portrait of people on the fringes of society while simultaneously being in the midst of it. Re-teaming with Leigh twenty-eight years after their collaboration in the Palme-D’or winning “Secrets & Lies,” Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Michele Austin deliver powerhouse performances as a pair of middle-aged sisters entering their twilight years. The two characters, Jean-Baptiste’s Pansy and Austin’s Chantelle, explore two sides of how one adjusts to grief: either with compassion or resentment. Both characters are examined and criticized yet nonetheless humanized, with Jean-Baptiste carrying a real sense of sadness even at her most misanthropic and unpleasant. Through blocking with Kurosawa-esque precision and late cinematographer Dick Pope’s keen eye, Leigh is able to extract painterly images from the mundanity of modern life. The world of “Hard Truths” is defined by stark whites, glass walls and an obsession with cleanliness despite the characters feeling so messy – and thus alive.
*This film was screened at the 60th annual Chicago International Film Festival.
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