There was something deeply meaningful about this movie to me. My granny was a lot like this character, like to a shocking degree, and the character dynamics and history that played out on screen felt very accurate and really rang home to me. The first part of the movie is fucking hilarious, I literally could not stop laughing. It takes a bit to learn who the characters are and figure them out. But then the further you get into the movie, the more deeper it gets and the more I liked it. And that ending scene really stuck with me. I'm going to be thinking about that for a long time.

It's early in the year, but this is the best film of 2025 so far. Jean-Baptiste's performance is an absolute knock out. Truly a masterclass in raw, honest and heart breaking emotion, and yet somehow it's also hilarious. This film is simply an incredible vignette of a deeply depressed, anxious and lonely woman and her relationship with self and her family.

'Hard Truths' features superb performances and an extremely hearty narrative, it's genuinely one of the saddest films I've seen in a long while; these type of real, gritty stories are always more impactful to me than the more manufactured drama (not that that's bad). Marianne Jean-Baptiste is outstanding as Pansy, a character that is on the surface quite unlikeable but due to her performance as well as smart writing it is actually easy to still care for the character; it's clear why she is the way she is. Michele Austin is also terrific, I couldn't put my finger on where I remembered her from - TV's 'This Is Going to Hurt'. David Webber and Tuwaine Barrett are effective in their roles too, arguably not difficult characters to play but I did feel for them both. Ani Nelson, Sophia Brown and even Jonathan Livingstone manage to stand out too, albeit comparatively minorly versus Jean-Baptiste and Austin. As saddening as this film can be, there is also a fair bit of comedy thrown in there - most, if not all, of which is funny. That scene with Jean-Baptiste and Gary Beadle sticks out, even if Beadle's character is rather over the top. The blend of humour and serious is perfect. For the third week running (weirdly, having not ever happened before), I got to see two films at the cinema back-to-back. This week, it was this and Drew Hancock's 'Companion'. Safe to say, two very different movies! Highly enjoyed them both though.

_survival is insufficient._ Marianne Jeanne-Baptiste is a revelation.

What another masterpiece Mike Leigh has created here thanks to superb acting by Marianne Jean-Baptiste. At times uncomfortable to watch. Despite Pansy constantly showing the worst of her character, she still seems to have a good sense of humour without noticing it or laughing at all herself. On the contrary. Heartbreakingly painful, brilliantly acted.