Hard Truths

Hard-Truths
Hard Truths

Some people are a source of happiness and positivity regardless of time and space whereas some people are destined to make flowers wilt and the milk sour. Unfortunately, ‘Pansy’, as played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste, is the former sort in “Hard Truths”, walking away from her reunion with “Secrets & Lies” director Mike Leigh as the actress who has created perhaps her most ref ‘character’ till date, not for the production but simply because Leigh’s films could make anyone a millionaire if a nickel were received for every sharp tongue uttered by Pansy.

”Hard Truths” comes in 50 years later after Director Leigh’s “Bleak Moments, the first film ever produced by Leigh. Interestingly, the period of over 50 years has been bookended by bleak moments, the first and last film by Leigh, however, James’ latest feature comes across as a teaser rather than the grand opening. Kitchen sink realism was brought back to life in ‘The Scream’ following the enormity and delicate investigation of a range of risk period films such as Topsy-Turvy, Vera Drake, Mr. Turner or Peterloo, this film complements their semi-obscene semi-surrealist drawings of women and cynicism as harsh realism one of the worlds in which the audience rises, saves, and rejoices.

From the moment Pansy opens her eyes, which most times is coupled with a loud gasp for air in panic, the world does not seem right to her. Beware of those who are in her way as Pansy seems to be looking for trouble with just about anybody she comes in contact with from a well-meaning cashier at a supermarket to the overly cautious dental hygienist. Throwing insults at strangers whom she has met just for the first time comes naturally to her and it takes no time for her to insult people, perhaps even some of them are amusingly accurate enough to warrant her a job on shows like ‘Veep’ (or any other program by Armando Iannucci). Pansy’s aversion to people often brings us to stitches of laughter and that is okay, although being in her company is not quite the same experience as being entertained by a movie featuring her nasty character.

She snaps, “You don’t know my suffering. You don’t know my pain!” Where that would be enough to encourage most people to back off, Leigh toughens up. With genuine and non-critical curiosity in what motivates him, the director is attempting to study such a phenomenon and has faith that Jean-Baptiste would be able to portray the character the same way Sally Hawkins was assigned to ‘unlock’ Poppy in ‘Happy-Go-Lucky.’ Pansy and Poppy could well be two sides of the same coin: One is destined to be miserable for most of her life, and the ‘other, is seemingly obnoxiously overbright, both are infectious but better taken in small doses.

In both instances however, Leigh’s solution is always and without fail, even quite predictably, to stage within theatres of the people the action shows for a rather excessive period of time, even focusing on the borderline-radical nature developed within his characters and relying on spectatorship to provide the extremes. What kind of existence must it be for the family members of such people? It is astonishing how Pansy’s sofa-slouching husband Curtley (David Webber) manages to endure never-ending nagging. Her son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett) gets it really harsh. He is obese and lazy and devotes all of his energy to playing consoles, hiding from his mother’s screeching.

Yet, if Moses were depicted in another kind of film, say, a revenge type of thriller, he would probably end up shooting up a schoolyard and the audience would be forced to understand what prompted that sort of response. This, however, is not the case with Leigh. He is a lot more complex when it comes to connections between events. His films are more than simple pitched ideas; film cannot be boiled down to straightforward premises. Rather, they start with the performers, who introduce themselves to Leigh as one or more people from the real world who they’re familiar with. From this, the characters are formed by Leigh and then receive a shot direction from the ensemble cast of characters to interact among themselves which is done to help in the screenwriting process.

For the film “Hard Truths,” Leigh has mentioned wanting to work with Jean-Baptiste again on this film, as they managed to create several “fights” over the course of a few days instead of a story arch. Occasionally she has her reasons for being angry, but these are never revealed to us. It cannot be just simply bringing up her background because her very nice sister Chantelle (Michele Austin) has a different kind of energy altogether one that is quiet. She’s an excellent performer who sings and dances with her two adult daughters (Ani Nelson and Sophia Brown) in their home, in stark contrast to Pansy, who is filled with such extreme negativity that she has become a narcissist. While Pansy continues to make everything about herself, Leigh attempts to do something quite the opposite he tries to look at Michele’s character from the perspective of the rest of the characters in order to see how they behave in her absence.

Pansy is a buzzkill but they all love her like a family member and even only a family member would love her. She has been trained to think the worst is always possible. For some, it may be a technique of avoiding disappointment, yet Pansy is a girl who is always influenced by existence from her core. In a few cases, the police do have records of harassing black people, so this makes someone like her who is constantly mistrustful of people very difficult to scam. But, Leigh and Jean-Baptiste explain how such toxicity affects her as well.

At times, one gets the feeling that Pansy is in a state of suspended animation, as if buried grudges are a buoy. Pansy would have been content with her several times in her life when she thought her anguish was only a matter of time, but the reality is the plague is within her core and would not go anywhere. Jean-Baptiste takes that angle without any hesitation: Pansy rages when even the little sadness is directed towards her, when the discontent is evidently self-inflicted. Mother’s Day is nearing, Chantelle’s sister is asking her to join and visit their mum’s grave, and Chantelle’s sister promises to bring flowers for it. Pansy barks about how no one offers her flowers, how many times has she wanted such a thing? And what if they did?

One would admire the structure of the film while figuring out Marrigje le Roux’s films. Roussel is not an exception; all are almost impossible to watch simultaneously. And yet it is the case that every shot is imbued with a special poetry. There is a paradox in the way modern aspirations are perceived in the global context they can only be countered and not revered. In this case, spending time with Pansy appears to be choking on salt with vinegar, when in reality, it is therapeutic. It is an opportunity to sympathize with the crank or to locate an echo of the crankiness in oneself.

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