MOVIES AT LA PLAZA: HARD TRUTHS—Family values, for real

Movie Review by Sergio Martinez

Marianne Jean Baptiste as Pansy,
a very difficult person to deal with

Centred on the vicissitudes of a black family in England, this film, directed by Mike Leigh, makes us reflect on the strength of the bonds of affection that are generated there. This is even though Pansy (Marianne Jean Baptiste) is a woman prone to quarrelling with everyone and for any trifle. Curtley (David Webber), Pansy's husband, no longer reacts to his insufferable wife's outbursts and limits himself to working and barely exchanging words with his wife. In the case of their son, Moses (Tuwaine Barrett), the mother would have reason to complain—at 22, the young man does nothing but stay at home and “still eats peanut butter sandwiches,” as Pansy says at one point.

Her sister Chantelle (Michele
Austin) is a harmonizing factor

A very different personality is that of Chantelle (Michele Austin), Pansy's younger sister, who calmly and relaxedly tries to be a harmonizing factor in her difficult sister's relationship. Chantelle owns a beauty salon and, along with tending to Pansy, tries to find common ground with her. Despite awakening old quarrels, a visit to the cemetery nevertheless serves as a softener in Pansy's difficult character.

Hard Truths can be seen as an incisive look inside a working-class black family, albeit with a relatively well-off background, facing the tensions produced by a society that does not favour communication between people. At the same time, the film very eloquently rescues what we could call true family values, those that do not focus on abstract moral conceptions but, on the contrary, highlight the emotional bond between these two sisters, so different but united by a feeling of genuine solidarity.

Family values, for real

Filmed mainly in the atmosphere of Pansy's house or Chantelle's beauty salon, the director conveys the claustrophobic environment in which their relationships take place very well. We recommend Hard Truths as a thought-provoking film about today's family. Its subject matter, however, is of interest to an adult audience.

Running time: 97 min.