Getting old and grumpy is a fallacy according to acclaimed British film director Mike Leigh, speaking via Zoom from the UK, about his new film Hard Truths, which explores family relationships in the post-pandemic world, and particularly the life of London housewife Pansy.
Pansy is a half-glass empty kind of woman – make that a completely empty glass kind of woman – she is agoraphobic, a hypochondriac and paranoid about animals, birds, insects, plants and flowers.
She sees no good in her plumber husband Curtley (David Webber) or in their unemployed grown-up son Moses (Tuwaine Barret), who still lives at home.
Leigh says there is a little of Pansy in all of us.
Pansy is played by Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who makes you want to shake some sense into her, something her sister does her best to do.
But Pansy’s grumpy nature is not age-related Leigh says.
“I don’t think it’s age-related at all. Some people are just the way they are,” he says. “You only have to look around you to see people like Pansy.”
In spite of its grim humour, Leigh says Hard Truths wasn’t a difficult film to make.
“All films are difficult, but actually it was a joy to make. It was a really rewarding experience to bring together people.
“The response from everyone involved was incredibly positive.”
Hard Truths is set in London and was shot in May and June 2023.
It was written and directed by Leigh and produced by Georgina Lowe for their company Thin Man Films.
Asked if the pessimistic nature of the characters in the film made it difficult mentally for the actors, in particular Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Leigh said that wasn’t the case.
“This is about characters and I work with actors who are constantly in character, they don’t play themselves, they play other people and they’re good at it.”
Leigh says they easily switch in and out of character.
That’s probably just as well in the case of Hard Truths. Leigh is renowned for a collaborative approach with his actors with the plot and characters evolving as production goes on.
“We embark on a journey,” he says. “The film gradually evolved from an idea and because the actors are involved the whole project can actually be fun.”
Leigh combines the processes of writing, rehearsing and shooting, involving months of improvisation, discussion and research, which takes the production on a journey.
He says working collaboratively with his casts and crews, the complete, unrestrained freedom he has always enjoyed has ensured freshness and diversity in his projects. His methods liberate actors and technicians alike, and his shoots are famously harmonious.
“It’s just a very enjoyable, rich experience. But it can actually be fun provided we have working environments where nobody is going to interfere.
“Provided I am smart enough, as I hope I am, to get the right people there in the first place, and we are blessed by brilliant, brilliant characters, and they are all characters, except they play real people rather than screen characters.
“I love the collaboration with all the guys behind the camera. They’re an inspiration to me.”
This approach has succeeded not only with all his films, but also with more than 20 original stage plays. These have included productions for the National Theatre of Great Britain and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and several have enjoyed runs in London’s West End.
While Leigh’s films are critically acclaimed, not all have been commercial successes, something he is conscious of.
“All I can do is encourage people to see the movie.”
Leigh spent more than a decade making his two epic period films Mr. Turner and Peterloo, before returning to the contemporary world with this tragi-comic study of human strengths and weaknesses.
Since his first feature film, Bleak Moments (1971), Leigh has made 21 full-length films, either for television or as motion pictures, winning a host of awards.
His films are always about people. They are character-driven. He is known for the detailed characterisations and vivid performances consistently given by his actors.
Hard Truths is no exception.
The central character, housewife Pansy is not happy. She is confrontational with everyone, especially her plumber husband Curtley and her unemployed son Moses, whom she thinks is wasting his life.
Her sister Chantelle runs a thriving hair salon. A single mum, she enjoys life, and lives harmoniously with her daughters Kayla, who works in cosmetics, and Aleisha, a trainee lawyer.
Chantell and Pansy are at the opposite ends of the scale which makes for an uncomfortable relationship.
Hard Truths was greeted with widespread acclaim for its direction, screenplay, and Jean-Baptiste’s performance when it premiered at the 49th Toronto International Film Festival last year.
The film was named one of the top 10 independent films of 2024 by American film organisation the National Board of Review.
It also earned Jean-Baptiste Best Actress nominations at the Critics’ Choice Awards, BAFTA Film Awards and the Gotham Awards and won her the Best Actress at the NYFCC, LAFCA and NSFC, which was the first time a woman of colour had done so.
Hard Truths is now screening at Luna Leederville, SX and Windsor; Ace Rockingham; Palace, Raine Square and Reading, Busselton.
