It’s been 14 years since Mike Leigh, more recently preoccupied with the 19th-century histories of J.M.W. Turner (Mr Turner) and the Peterloo Massacre (Peterloo), last probed the vagaries of contemporary British life — but you wouldn’t know it from this short, sharp, blistering domestic portrait, which finds him on vigorous, biting-back form.  

It’s a welcome reunion, too, with Marianne Jean-Baptiste, the Oscar-nominated star of Secrets and Lies, here given a rare, unforgettable leading role as Pansy, a North London wife and mother consumed with vituperative anger at the world and everyone in it.  

Like the diametric opposite of Sally Hawkins’ perma-sunny heroine in Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky, Pansy confronts her loved ones and strangers alike with the same bruising, often hilarious hostility, only for the film to turn sneakily, tenderly poignant as the pain behind her rage is laid bare. 

For information on the full BFF24 programme visit: www.belfastfilmfestival.org