Marianne Jean-Baptiste in Hard Truths: Actor’s powerful performance in film about compassion for others

One of the biggest snubs of the Academy Awards happened long before last week’s ceremony, when Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s performance in Hard Truths wasn’t recognised with a best actress nomination. Without a big studio marketing campaign behind it, this low-budget film from British auteur Mike Leigh was always going to struggle to get cut-through with Academy voters. Still, many thought Jean-Baptiste had a shot, having previously received an Oscar nomination for her acclaimed turn in Leigh’s 1996 drama Secrets & Lies, which saw her become the first black British woman to earn the honour. As it happens, Jean-Baptiste was in Los Angeles as the 97th Academy Awards unfolded, but she tried not to let it get to her. “I mean, it’s disappointing,” she reveals over a video call with STM. “But at the same time, I’m really sort of into the work, and all that other stuff really very rarely has anything to do with the work, unfortunately, so you just sort of get on with it.” Keeping a stiff upper lip and carrying on is England’s great contribution to mental wellbeing, even if it may have consigned entire generations of Brits to suffering in silence. “There’s a part of me that thinks, ‘Just get on with it’ is great, because I wish some gen Zs would do that,” the Without A Trace star laughs. “But there is a sad part of it as well, because there are so many people that need help and didn’t get it that have suffered for a long time.” It’s a timely discussion given the themes raised in Hard Truths, which sees Jean-Baptiste play Pansy, a middle-aged woman on the verge of a breakdown after years of living with depression. Agoraphobic, hypochondriac and with an irrational paranoia about everything from birds to flowers, Pansy is confrontational with those closest to her and resists any attempt to shake her out of the funk. It’s not always easy to watch, something Leigh depicts unflinchingly in his trademark naturalistic style, where authenticity is achieved by revelling in the mundane. “It could be cleaning the kitchen and vacuuming, and all that sort of stuff that you’d normally think of as boring, but it embeds a truth in that character that is priceless,” Jean-Baptiste, 57, says. Leigh’s films seek out truth wherever it can be found; the actor recalls one day on the set of this latest film when the director overruled a request from the cinematographer to have a character leave a door ajar to let in enough light to get the shot. “Mike piped up, and said, ‘That’s eccentric. You can’t expect a character, an actor that’s in character, to be thinking about leaving the door open’,” Jean-Baptiste recalls. “It’s just an indication of the way that he works, and making the environment facilitate the actors doing their work. It’s not about us making it easier for the camera or the lights, it’s about them making it as easy for us to stay in character and be as authentic as possible in that moment.” By making his characters as authentic as possible — Jean-Baptiste says there were three months of rehearsal before shooting commenced — Leigh ensures Pansy’s struggles resonate with audiences. “In the cinema, you sit with Pansy, and then you start to think, ‘Oh my god, that is auntie Iris. But I normally avoid auntie Iris, or I swerve her, but maybe, just maybe, I should really investigate what’s going on and ask some questions’,” Jean-Baptiste explains. “You alienate people and then when they do come to see you, you’re so angry and you don’t want to be rejected that you end up rejecting them again. “I think this movie is really about compassion and pause; just pausing, when you’re faced with somebody with that type of energy, not taking it personally, and just being kind.” Hard Truths is in theatres now.