Best Actress Watch: Jean-Baptiste in Hard Truths is a “Relentless, Fearless Performance”

Leave it Mike Leigh to make room for what will likely be among the best performances of the year. It sure sounds like it to me from what I can get from this Vanity Fair first look.

She describes her character this way: “You’ve got a character who’s had a lot of pain, disappointment, and failures…Who suffers from quite a few issues that have not really been dealt with.”

And the description:

From the very first moment we meet Pansy—waking up one morning, seemingly mad at the sun for daring to rise—it’s clear that something is deeply wrong. As the day progresses, she berates her husband Curtley (David Webber), a plumber, and lays into her wallflower of a son, Moses (Tuwaine Barrett), for his lack of ambition. It’s immediately evident that Pansy moves through life with a scowl and an unkind word for practically everyone she encounters—whether it’s a dental hygienist, the grocery store clerk, or her own sister, Chantelle, a hairdresser, played by frequent Leigh collaborator Michele Austin.

And this:

After seeing Pansy dress down a furniture store employee and demand to speak with her manager, one might be tempted to call Pansy the dreaded K-slur, a “Karen.” But Baptiste’s devastating, nuanced performance makes it clear that Pansy defies simple categorization. Set in post-COVID London, Hard Truths explores the psyche of a woman still in the physical and emotional throws of the global panic. “I was uncovering a lot of stuff that she had—anxiety, OCD, depression,” says Jean-Baptiste. “On some level, I wanted her to get help, because you grow to love these characters and look after and protect them.”

And she talks about the no-script style of Mike Leigh:

Still, making dialogue up on the spot is easier said than done. “It’s such a terrifying and freeing way to work,” Jean-Baptiste says. ”You get used to knowing the character’s arc—or lack thereof—just not knowing what you’re doing.”

Not knowing what you’re doing comes with an unpredictability that can border on the dangerous, at times. “Obviously we don’t know what’s going to happen when we start the improvisations. I was convinced someone was going to hit her,” Jean-Baptiste says. “I was like, ‘Somebody is going to smack this woman.’”

What sparks my curiosity here is what a complete and complicated role this is for a Black character. We’ve seen them in the work of Ava DuVernay but it’s rare. There seems to be one kind of character Black women play — and it’s rarely a griping, bitchy pain in the ass. Given that, given Leigh’s reputation working with actors, she will be among the strongest contenders this year for Best Actress.

She will be going up against Lady Gaga for Joker Folie a Deux (unless supporting), transgender actress Karla Sofia Gascon in Emilia Perez, Amy Adams in Nightbitch, among others. All of these are also darker characters, flawed, and complex. But Jean-Baptiste might end up with the strongest of the bunch. There is no question this is a lead role, as opposed to supporting. Keep an eye for that one.

And yes, I know that Hard Truths was rejected by Cannes and Venice, but is that really surprising? All that tells me is that it will be more accessible than the kinds of films they’re looking for at those festivals. It looks like a character showcase for Jean-Baptiste, and with a relatively weak year for Best Actress, it could be something to watch.