TIFF 2024 Review: Hard Truths – “smartly written”

Pansy is an unrelenting critic of her own family and whomever she comes into contact.    

Pansy is displeased with her plumber husband, who does not remove his shoes when coming into the house, and her wayward obese son, who has a penchant for going on mysterious walks and playing video games rather than looking for a job; faults are also constantly pointed out to strangers she encounters while doing daily errands.

Pansy has an uncanny ability to come up with a barrage of clever insults that go from being funny to simply tiresome.  It is the type of over-the-top performance that will see Marianne Jean-Baptiste taking part in the awards circuit but in truth is simply a one-note affair.  Depression is not something to be taken lightly as the source of it can be a mystery even to the sufferer.  Hints are made that Pansy suffered the same sort of treatment from her mother so is the infliction something passed on from generation to generation?  Not quite sure what the point Mike Leigh is trying to make with this character study.

Front and centre is the dialogue which is smartly written and the camera remains still enabling the performances to unfold and making the audience feel like a witness to what is unfolding.  There are other side stories which are more character footnotes rather than anything meant to go anywhere.  The performances which are more interesting to explore are of Pansy’s sister and two nieces who have an onscreen chemistry that is dynamic and consequently more believable.

The 49th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 5-15, 2024, and for more information visit tiff.net.    

Trevor Hogg is a freelance video editor and writer who currently resides in Canada; he can be found at LinkedIn.