Marianne Jean-Baptiste tests our limits of empathy in 'Hard Truths'

Of all the movie protagonists you might have seen this year, none is Marianne quite like Mike Leigh's "Hard Jean-Baptiste's Pansy in Truths."

-  Jake Coyle

Pansy, a middle-aged woman in contemporary London, is foul-tempered from beginning to end. She spends her days in evident pain that she unleashes upon all those around her, including her husband Curtley (David Webber), her 20something son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett), and most anyone else she encounters. Her venom might fall on a supermarket cashier or a furniture-shopping couple who dare to put their feet up on an ottoman.

Heaven help the man who wants her parking spot.

For everyone, Pansy is a test. She tests the patience and empathy of her family, just as she does the viewer. She's not an antihero. She's anti-everything.

"The world is full of Pansys. People live with other people's conditions," Jean-Baptiste says.

"Often, I've met people who have just been enraged because you didn't see them in the car park pulling into the space. You go: It can't just be about me. How did you get that angry about something so stupid? You don't know what they're going through or how they got there." "Hard Truths," which will open nationwide in theaters on January 10, never supplies any answers. Instead, it unfolds as a cantankerous character study led by Jean-Baptiste's compellingly prickly Pansy.

The performance has earned Jean-Baptiste her best reviews since her last film with Leigh: "Secrets & Lies," nearly 30 years ago. For that film, JeanBaptiste became the first Black British actress nominated for an Academy Award. Her performance in "Hard Truths" has been just as celebrated, earning best actress from both the New York Film Critics Circle and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

Three decades later, Jean-Baptiste could be heading back to the Oscars.