Bafta-nominated drama will make you laugh and cry

Marianne Jean-Baptiste reunites with director Mike Leigh for Hard Truths’, a heart-wrenching look at one woman’s struggle to cope with everyday life, writes Clarisse Loughrey

- Clarisse Loughrey

There are Pansy Deacons all over the place. She's the focus of Mike Leigh's Hard Truths - a vessel of formless rage played by Bafta nominee Marianne Jean-Baptiste. When a furniture store employee dares to ask her if she needs help, she immediately snaps back with “Are you threatening me?” and demands to speak to the manager. She picks fights with customers behind her in the checkout queue, with her dentist, with other drivers – with anyone, really, who dares enter her orbit. She complains about charity workers (too cheery), dogs in coats (arrogant), and well-dressed babies (“What’s a baby got pockets for? What’s it going to keep in its pocket, a knife?”).

We’re used to this kind of everyday spectacle. The public display of nonconformism. Erratic behaviour. Eccentric garb. Sudden outbursts. We watch these strangers with crooked smiles, betraying some combination of fear, bemusement, and sympathy. Or perhaps, instead, we stare down at the floor and try to disappear them from our minds.