Hard Truths | Rotten Tomatoes (original) (raw)

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Critics Consensus

Marianne Jean-Baptiste puts on a prickly masterclass in Hard Truths, another superb character study from writer-director Mike Leigh.

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Danny Leigh Financial Times Call it the sorrow of the ordinary front door, of which Hard Truths grows into a graceful study. Credit to Jean-Baptiste and the actors. And to Leigh, for making, at 81, one of the best films of his career. Rated: 4/5 Feb 8, 2025 Full Review Wendy Ide Observer (UK) Make no mistake, these performances are certainly worth the weight of attention that is placed upon them. But great turns don’t always amount to a great picture. Rated: 3/5 Feb 5, 2025 Full Review Laura Venning Empire Magazine A gruelling but ultimately rewarding experience, this is Leigh at his most confrontational, devastating and humane, aided by the unadulterated power of Jean-Baptiste’s career-redefining performance. Rated: 4/5 Feb 4, 2025 Full Review Tom Shone Sunday Times (UK) Hard Truths is minor Leigh, to be sure... but it’s made with all his usual rigour and an exquisite balance of Dickensian comic grotesquery with cup-of-tea-and-a-biscuit sympathy. Rated: 3/5 Feb 11, 2025 Full Review Manuel Betancourt FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) It is claustrophobic to spend so much time with Pansy, but it clicked for me once I understood it as a post-lockdown film and the anti-sociality that was encouraged during the time. Feb 11, 2025 Full Review Sarah Gopaul Digital Journal While it would be simple to let everyone hate Pansy, it’s to Leigh’s and Jean-Baptiste’s credit that they create a cantankerous character that is so inexplicably miserable, she earns the audience’s compassion. Feb 10, 2025 Full Review Read all reviews

Patricia This movie was outstanding. Every single actor in this movie were so good, and so believable. The main actor and her sister were phenomenal. The husband, son, and the two daughters of the sister were also really good. They brought the story together. The struggle between hopefulness and hopelessness was on full display in this movie. You will do yourself a favor to see the movie. It speaks to many of our common emotions. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/30/25 Full Review menachem The acting is superb, but the movie is a little slow at times. If you grew up around depression or narcissism or schizophrenia, you might be a little triggered, but overall the movie does an amazing job and showing what the reality of living with mental health issues in a home can be like and its affects on the people around the sufferers. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/30/25 Full Review K Still thinking about it hours later, in a good way. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/30/25 Full Review Larry S A psychologically rich examination of intergenerational trauma with comedic moments. this Superbly acted. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/29/25 Full Review Yo’ I have never snot-nosed cried in a movie theater!… until now. This movie is so raw and yet you leave slightly with hope but with more questions that you came with. I’ve never really hated and loved a character this much. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/29/25 Full Review tony not always an easy watch, but a movie i will return to. Mike Leigh is like an English Raymond Carver, but with film instead of short stories. spectacular performances, so much unresolved pathos. somehow, its even hopeful? Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/28/25 Full Review Read all reviews

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Synopsis Legendary filmmaker Mike Leigh returns to the contemporary world with a fierce, compassionate, and often darkly humorous study of family and the thorny ties that bind us. Reunited with Leigh for the first time since multiple Oscar-nominated Secrets and Lies, the astonishing Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays Pansy, a woman wracked by fear, tormented by afflictions, and prone to raging tirades against her husband, son, and anyone who looks her way. Meanwhile, her easygoing younger sister, played by Michele Austin (Another Year), is a single mother with a life as different from Pansy's as their clashing temperaments -- brimming with communal warmth from her salon clients and daughters alike. This expansive film from a master dramatist takes us into the intensities of kinship, duty, and the most enduring of human mysteries: that even through lifetimes of hurt and hardship, we still find ways to love those we call family.

Director

Mike Leigh

Producer

Georgina Lowe

Screenwriter

Mike Leigh, Mike Leigh

Distributor

Bleecker Street

Production Co

Thin Man Films, The Mediapro Studio, Film4

Genre

Comedy, Drama

Original Language

English

Release Date (Theaters)

Jan 10, 2025, Limited

Release Date (Streaming)

Feb 11, 2025

Runtime

1h 37m