Incendiary Jean-Baptiste sets ‘Hard Truths’ afire
With his latest masterpiece “Hard Truths,” Mike Leigh seeks to assure us that we’re not alone in our fury at a world where kindness has become a rare and precious commodity. Rage has become our drug of choice and people like Pansy Deacon are OD-ing on it; not in abandoned buildings and back alleys, but in the supermarket, in a parking lot and most dispiritingly, at the dinner table.
These are Pansy’s main theaters of operations in a war on … What? We never know. And how can we when even Pansy hasn’t the foggiest? It’s just a given that anything and everything that crosses her path is a potential target of vicious insults and vitriolic rants that can be triggered by anything from sparsely haired infant girls wearing ribbons on their heads to grocery checkers checked out at their registers.
We’ve all known a Pansy and learned to stay as far away as possible. But there’s a wealth of untapped humanity residing in Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s portrayal that instinctively inspires you to want to hug and comfort Pansy – even when she’s snarling and rearing for an attack. You’re also just as likely to burst out in giggles, not at her antisocial behavior, but at the “truths” within the sources of her irrational irritations.
For instance, the folks ambushing shoppers in front of the market, shaming them into handing over a dollar or two. Or as Pansy puts it, “Cheerful, grinning people … I can’t stand them. Loitering out there, demanding your hard-earned cash. It’s a scam.” Then there are newborns in jumpers with recesses. “What does a baby have pockets for? A knife? It’s ridiculous.” And last but not least, her response to an annoying driver aggressively coveting her parking space. “Your balls are so backed up you’ve got sperm in your brain!”
You can’t help responding with a chuckle of recognition and a secret wish that you could be as quick with a disparaging quip. But there’s a point in “Hard Truths” when Pansy stops being comical. As only an actress as versatile as Jean-Baptiste is capable, she turns those tears of laughter into tears of immense empathy. The switch isn’t instantly discernable. Her Pansy is still the intolerant malcontent, but Jean-Baptiste gradually reveals the fear and hurt behind the anger.
And to prove it’s not genetic, Leigh introduces us to Pansy’s polar opposite younger sister, Chantelle (Michele Austin), and Chantelle’s two equally joyful, unshakable adult daughters, Kayla (Ani Nelson) and Aleisha (Sophia Brown). Nothing gets them down: not an asshole boss for Kayla; not a passive-aggressive colleague for Aleisha. Any slight or criticism rolls off their backs. She doesn’t come out and say it, but Pansy’s envy is palpable.
So is the chemistry between Austin and Jean-Baptiste, who last appeared together 28 years ago in Leigh’s “Secrets & Lies,” a multi-nominated Oscar darling that made Jean-Baptiste a star. Alas, in the years since, Hollywood has had no idea what to do with her, largely casting the Brit in forgettable supporting roles in films and on TV. It’s as if Leigh, at age 81, purposefully sought to remind us how great his one-time muse is by writing her the role of a lifetime.
Jean-Baptiste shows her appreciation with a peak performance that is likely to earn her a second trip to the Oscars, and a better than even chance of winning. She certainly has my vote after being utterly wowed by the power and depth she imbues in Pansy. It’s a role intentionally designed to drain an actress; and it does, as Jean-Baptiste puts herself through the wringer, expelling every ounce of emotion she can muster to take us into the soul of a misanthrope who’s completely given up on life.
What ails Pansy might be something as easily diagnosable as depression. But when channeled through Jean-Baptiste it’s much more complex and puzzling, especially to her long-suffering husband, Curtley (David Webber), and their adult, living-at-home son, Moses (Tuwaine Barrett), both of whom have miraculously conditioned themselves to tune out the nightly rants. They say nothing, do nothing. Like Pansy, they just exist.
And maybe that’s the point Leigh endeavors to make, championing folks like Curtley and Moses who toil away at life in silence while the squeaky wheels like Pansy capture all the attention, adverse or otherwise. Or, is it just the simple fact that both Curtley and Moses have been browbeaten into submission, like so many others out there who’ve become weary of the subjugation by corrupt, arrogant politicians and their loudmouthed pundits? When and where do the constraints end?
The one ray of hope in “Hard Truths” emerges during a wrenching scene unfolding amid an eventful Mother’s Day celebration at which Pansy is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Summoning her sister to another room, Chantelle flat out asks Pansy, “Why can’t you be happy?” For once, Pansy is rendered speechless. And as I said earlier, does the cause really matter? Whether the root is resentment bred from having spent her teens looking after Chantelle while their single mom worked endless hours, or being stuck in a marriage to a man she wed only because she was afraid of growing old alone, Pansy is who she is because she allowed it to happen. That realization doesn’t prompt an epiphany, but it does get her thinking. Ditto for us, as we are subtly compelled to examine our own hard truths, our own hostilities. Can we mitigate them? And if we can’t, will we give rise to a world where we’re all a bunch of Pansys? Perish the thought.
Movie review
Hard Truths
Rated: R for language
Cast: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Michele Austin, David Webber, Tuwaine Barrett, Ani Nelson, Sophia Brown and Jonathan Livingston
Director: Mike Leigh
Writer: Mike Leigh
Runtime: 97 minutes
Where: In theaters Jan. 10
Grade: A-
