I don't understand you, but I love you
Continuing my trip up Empire's top 20 films of 2025 #12 : Hard Truths Mike Leigh's reunion with Marianne Jean-Baptiste, the actor who led his 1996 Palme d'Or winning drama Secrets & Lies, was always going to be something special. What makes Hard Truths such a must-see however is how extraordinarily ordinary it actually is. Jean-Baptiste is on firebrand form as Pansy, a reclusive middle-aged woman whose world-weariness scorches all around her (to often hilarious effect — her babies-and-pockets rant is an all-timer), but whose pain and bone-deep misery is plain for all — especially sister Chantelle (Michele Austin) — to see. Not always the easiest of watches, especially as Leigh has no interest in curing Pansy's bitterness with a syrupy Hollywood ending, Hard Truths is nevertheless an essential watch. It's human, raw, real: pure Mike Leigh. I've taken quite a bit of time to get round to this one for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there's been some goo...