Housewife Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) is not happy. She is agoraphobic, a hypochondriac and paranoid about animals, birds, insects, plants, and flowers. She is confrontational with everyone, especially her plumber husband Curtley and her unemployed son Moses, whom she thinks is wasting his life. Her sister Chantelle (Michele Austin) runs a thriving hair salon. A single mum, she enjoys life, and lives harmoniously with her daughters Kayla, who works in cosmetics, and Aleisha, a trainee lawyer.

Leigh’s new film explores family relationships in the post-pandemic world. After over a decade spent making his two epic period films Mr. Turner and Peterloo, Mike Leigh returns to his ongoing exploration of the contemporary world with this tragi-comic study of human strengths and weaknesses.

With a superb lead performance from Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths is already garnering awards buzz with recent wins from BIFA (Best Lead Performance – Marianne Jean-Baptiste) and New York Film Critics Circle Awards (Best Actress – Marianne Jean-Baptiste).

"What a joy it is to be back in Leigh’s London after such a long absence – to see it from new angles, made accessible to his loving gaze by a cast of fresh collaborators." Little White Lies