KT 99.5: Hard Truths (Mike Leigh, 2024)
Overlooked by Cannes and Venice but not by KinoTopia, Linus pray tells about legendary Mancunian director Mike Leigh's latest work
Hard Truths
Mike Ligh, 2024
DCP Courtesy: Reset Collective
Classification: MA 15+
Screening in most arthouse cinemas from March 6 and previewing from mid-Feb.
Words by Linus Wolfe Tolliday
Amédée Ayfre, in a Cahiers du Cinema essay from 1952, tells us that the word ‘realism’ “should never be used without a determining correlative”. He tells us this wisely and possibly to our chagrin or satisfaction: our chagrin at the denial of easy categories; our satisfaction at the chance to adumbrate some specificity. While Ayfre’s line is to introduce his treatise on neorealism – a film style that typified Italy in the aftermath of World War Two – his nebulous language is also helpful in framing a conversation around director Mike Leigh, whose oeuvre often earns the determining correlative, ‘kitchen-sink’. But he could never make true kitchen-sink dramas – these were films of the late-1950s and 1960s, emanating from postwar malaise and reacting against the corny escapist films of the time, such as the popular but forgettable string of films that paired stars Anna Neagle and Michael Wilding.
Leigh, whose own film career took off in the 1970s, has shown his deep investment in a more general branch of social realism, that moves freely between period and contemporary settings and lacks the taboo-breaking bombast of his forebears. Kitchen-sink dramas were designed to be confronting in their revealing depictions of bleak working and living conditions, directly railing against the inequality of the time. These were a reaction to a film industry having predominantly cast its gaze away from unpleasant realities. This urgency simply could not be reproduced once filmmakers like Karel Reisz and Tony Richardson, both of whom adapted major works by stalwart working class author Alan Sillitoe, had blown down the walls of polite, popular and often insipid filmmaking. Filmmakers like Leigh and Ken Loach, who has recently retired from filmmaking, are the direct descendants of this movement. Perhaps it is Loach’s first film, Poor Cow, made in 1967, at the tail-end of the kitchen-sink movement, that explains his sturdy commitment to working class dramas in the modern world, as opposed to slightly junior Leigh’s variegated filmography.
It is no surprise that Leigh’s new film, Hard Truths, chips away unflinchingly at a suburban London family in crisis. Perhaps it is natural to see a kind of rarefaction develop over a career, as Danish auteur Carl Theodor Dreyer trimmed from his messily ambitious Vampyr in 1932 to his ascetic opus in 1955, Ordet. For Leigh, the clearest comparison to Hard Truths is his 1996 film, Secrets & Lies, which also starred Marianne Jean-Baptiste, where she plays a much gentler character as a courteous optometrist who patiently navigates a deepening conflict. Both films trace the inner-workings of suburban families and challenge the integrity of their fabrics. In the earlier made film, the central focus is the reunification of the two main characters, while in Hard Truths, attention is narrowed to one character.
We open on a languid pan across a row of suburban houses, a shot characteristic of Leigh and late cinematographer Dick Pope, in their twelfth and final collaboration. The shot is accompanied by the familiar strings and woodwinds of another longtime Leigh collaborator, composer Gary Yershon. We then cut into the house on the corner and meet a family of three: the brusque, irritable mother, Pansy Deacon; her sullen husband, Curtley (David Webber); and their introverted gamer son, Moses (Tuwaine Barrett).
Pansy takes care of the house while Curtley works as a plumber. This leaves Moses to hide in his room from Pansy’s scorn, or to go for walks as part of a vague routine of escape. Pansy conjectures that he is loitering in the street, which quickly develops into a withering accusation. This initial barrage of venom comes so suddenly and with so little build or justification, it strikes with humour, like an old English sitcom where crabby characters fire at one another – think John Cleese’s interminably aggrieved Basil in Fawlty Towers, or Richard Wilson’s cantankerous turn as Victor Meldrew in One Foot in the Grave. But while in sitcoms, the surrounding players roll their eyes and knowingly shake their heads, in Pansy’s world, the humour quickly drains and reveals shades of cruelty and pain.
Pansy’s sister, Chantelle (Michele Austin), is, conversely, an energetic hairdresser whose life is defined by positive relationships. An early scene sees Chantelle and her daughters dancing together at home, lovingly teasing one another. It is when Chantelle and Pansy are together that the film’s ideas start to acquire clear articulation, as Chantelle doesn’t mind pulling Pansy up for her irrational bursts of anger. Where Curtley and Moses recoil from her, it is in a sisterly bond that Chantelle finds space for frank conversation and where Leigh peeks behind Pansy’s thick walls of defence.
In a particularly tense and revealing scene, Pansy and Chantelle visit their mother’s grave in the austere cemetery. Chantelle probes and Pansy grumbles evasively, until she admits some heavy grievances about their upbringing. Pansy concedes a moment of vulnerability, but uses her upbraiding defence to avoid any genuine reflection. From here, her hostile impenetrability begins to crumble, and Chantelle takes up an increasingly probing role in the relationship.
It is so good to see a film of such emotional depth handled with such patience as Leigh affords Hard Truths. We begin with a proposal of a moribund family, hurtling unchangeably along tracks of emotional pain toward obliteration; at the midpoint, a new proposal emerges, that the personalities of Pansy and her family may not, after all, be unchangeable and therefore, perhaps their trajectory isn’t either. The film does not become a work of twee miracle – a family transformed by a conversation or, more often, a nanny (McPhee or, say, Poppins) – but rather a genuine miracle of diverting the fatalistic spiral of a family. While these entrenched patterns of behaviour are challenged, it must be said that the film never quite resolves these challenges – the opposite, even, where the film opens on a resolved note of misery and moves toward cranking open a future of uncertainty. It is a hopeful film, but the margin of hope against futility is the slimmest Leigh has thus far managed. This is where Leigh’s genius emerges once more, this time, to reiterate, with rarefied focus on the minor progression of a person, a family.
Leigh’s two previous outings, 2014’s Mr. Turner and 2018’s Peterloo, both historical dramas with wide dramatic scale, complicate the neat categorisation of his output, and he has throughout his career often moved between social realist dramas and lavish period pieces. But, for Hard Truths, Leigh is back in the familiar trappings of present-day London suburbia and whittling away at an ever narrowing scope of dramatic progression. He shows a family in crisis and through them exhorts us to see the power we have in our own lives. For Pansy, it is Chantelle’s urging that begins the slow move toward change. With any luck, we won’t be waiting another six years for a new Leigh revelation.
Listings | Thursday 6 Feb - Wednesday 12 Feb
Notable Screenings
Blue Sun Palace
Constance Tsang, 2024
Screening at ACMI Fri, Sat, Sun
American Pie 2
James B. Rogers, 2001
Screening at Astor Fri 7 Feb
Grand Tour
Miguel Gomes, 2024
Previewing at Nova Sun 09 Feb
I’m Still Here
Walter Salles, 2024
Previewing at Nova Fri 07 Feb
New Films in Release
Queer
Luca Guadanigno, 2024
Screening Daily
Presence
Steven Soderbergh, 2024
Screening Daily
Focus on Peter Weir
Witness
Peter Weir, 1985
Screening Thurs
The Last Wave
Peter Weir, 1977
Screening Fri 7 Feb
Dead Poets Society
Peter Weir, 1989
Screening Sat 8 Feb
Wild at Heart
David Lynch, 1990
Screening Sat 8 Feb
The Cars That Ate Paris
Peter Weir, 1974
Screening Sun 9 Feb
The Truman Show
Peter Weir, 1998
Screening
Focus on David Lynch
Eraserhead
David Lynch, 1977
Screening Thurs 6 Feb
The Elephant Man
David Lynch, 1980
Screening Fri 7 Feb
Dune
David Lynch, 1984
Screening Sat 8 Feb
Blue Velvet
David Lynch, 1986
Screening Sat 8 Feb
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
David Lynch, 1992
Screening Mon 10 Feb
Spotlight on Japanese Horror
Kwaidan
Masaki Kobayashi, 1964
Screening Sun 9 Feb
Matinees
Blue Sun Palace
Constance Tsang, 2024
Screening Fri, Sat, Sun
In the Mood for Love
Wong Kar-wai, 2000
Screening Wed 12 Feb
No screening this week
Queer
Luca Guadanigno, 2024
Screening Daily
Seven
David Fincher, 1995
Screening Thurs, Mon, Tues and Wed
American Pie 2
James B. Rogers, 2001
Screening Fri 7 Feb
Becoming Led Zeppelin
Bernard MacMahon, 2021
Screening Sat 8 Feb
The Brutalist
Brady Corbett, 2024
Screening Sun 9 Feb
BBBC CINEMA (GALLERYGALLERY BRUNSWICK)
Closed until further notice
No screening this week
CHINATOWN CINEMA
Detective Chinatown 1900
Sicheng Chen & Mo Dai, 2025
Screening Daily
Creation of the Gods II: Demon Force
Wuershan, 2025
Screening Daily
Coming back in some variety soon
Moonstruck
Norman Jewison, 1987
Screening Sat 9 Feb
Events
I’m Still Here
Walter Salles, 2024
Previewing Fri 07 Feb
The Room
Tommy Wiseau, 2003
Screening Fri 07 Feb
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Mohammad Rasoulof, 2024
Previewing Sun 09 Feb
Grand Tour
Miguel Gomes, 2024
Previewing Sun 09 Feb
Bird
Andrea Arnold, 2024
Previewing Wed 12 Feb
Flow
Gints Zilbalodis, 2024
Previewing Wed 12 Feb
Release
Maria
Pablo Larraín, 2024
Screening Daily
Babygirl
Halina Reijn, 2024
Screening Daily
The Brutalist
Brady Corbet, 2024
Screening Daily
A Complete Unknown
James Mangold, 2024
Screening Daily
The Brutalist
Brady Corbet, 2024
Screening Daily
Conclave
Edward Berger, 2024
Screening Daily
Nosferatu
David Eggers, 2024
Screening Daily
Anora
Sean Baker, 2024
Screening Daily
We Live in Time
John Crowley, 2024
Screening Daily
Sing Sing
Greg Kwedar, 2025
Screening Daily
Emilia Perez
Jacques Audiard, 2025
Screening Daily
Better Man
Michael Gracey, 2024
Screening Daily
All We Imagine As Light
Payal Kapadia, 2024
Screening Daily
The Room Next Door
Pedro Almodóvar, 2024
Screening Daily
Wicked
John M. Chu, 2024
Screening Daily
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
Nick Park & Merlin Crossingham, 2024
Screening Daily
Heretic
Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, 2024
Screening Daily (Excl Sunday)
Saturday Night,
Jason Reitman, 2024
Screening Daily
Lee
Ellen Kuras, 2023
Screening Daily
A Different Man
Aaron Schimberg, 2024
Screening Daily
Memoir of a Snail
Adam Elliot, 2024
Screening Daily
The Apprentice
Ali Abbasi, 2024
Screening Daily
The Substance
Coralie Fargeat, 2024
Screening Daily
Kneecap
Rich Peppiatt, 2023
Screening Daily
DOGMILK DEGUSTATIONS: @ Miscellania
Coming back but TBC when
Done for now, will return soon
GAY24 (Bar Flippy’s)
No screening this week
HITLIST (9 Gertrude St, Fitzroy)
Shut for now
LIDO / CLASSIC / CAMEO
General Release
Babygirl
Halina Reijn, 2024
Screening Daily
Companion
Drew Hancock, 2025
Screening Daily
Emilia Pérez
Jacques Audiard, 2024
Screening Daily
A Complete Unknown
James Mangold, 2024
Screening Daily
Conclave
Edward Berger, 2024
Screening Daily
The Brutalist
Brady Corbet, 2024
Screening Daily
Nosferatu
David Eggers, 2024
Screening Daily
Anora
Sean Baker, 2024
Screening Daily
We Live in Time
John Crowley, 2024
Screening Daily
A Real Pain
Jesse Eisenberg, 2024
Screening Daily
Wicked
John M. Chu, 2024
Screening Daily
Better Man
Michael Gracey, 2024
Screening Daily
Magic Beach
Robert Connelly, 2024
Screening Daily
OVA CLUB
No screening this week
THE MELBOURNE CINÉMATHÈQUE (ACMI)
Dragon Inn
King Hu, 1967
Screening Wednesday at 7pm
+
Raining in the Mountain
King Hu, 1979
Screening Wednesday at 9:10pm
MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY: SCREENING IDEAS
No screening this week
PALACE BALWYN / BRIGHTON / COMO / KINO / PENTRIDGE / MOONEE PONDS / WESTGARTH
General Release
Babygirl
Halina Reijn, 2024
Screening Daily
Companion
Drew Hancock, 2025
Screening Daily
We Live in Time
John Crowley, 2024
Screening Daily
Conclave
Edward Berger, 2024
Screening Daily
Nosferatu
David Eggers, 2024
Screening Daily
Emilia Perez
Jacques Audiard, 2025
Screening Daily
Anora
Sean Baker, 2024
Screening Daily
A Real Pain
Jesse Eisenberg, 2024
Screening Daily
Better Man
Michael Gracey, 2024
Screening Daily
Wicked
John M. Chu, 2024
Screening Daily
The Room Next Door
Pedro Almodóvar, 2024
Screening Daily (Kino)
Paddington in Peru
Dougal Wilson, 2024
Screening Daily
All We Imagine As Light
Payal Kapadia, 2024
Screening Daily (Kino)
No screening this week
No listings this week / click link above to see what’s on (their site too hard to list)
Queer
Luca Guadanigno, 2024
Screening Daily
A Complete Unknown
James Mangold, 2024
Screening Sat and Wed
Babygirl
Halina Reijn, 2024
Screening Daily
Becoming Led Zeppelin
Bernard MacMahon, 2021
Screening Sat and Sun
UNKNOWN PLEASURES @ Thornbury Picture House
No screening this week