It shouldn’t be hard for “Hard Truths” to get some Oscar love, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be. British actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste delivers an emotionally charged performance in Mike Leigh’s powerful drama. She portrays a woman on the verge of mental collapse, navigating her life with a volatile mix of vulnerability and rage. Whether […]

Some people bring happiness and positivity into the world, illuminating the lives of all around them, and some make flowers wilt and milk curdle wherever they go. As Pansy, Marianne Jean-Baptiste embodies the latter sort in “Hard Truths,” coming away from her reunion with “Secrets & Lies” director Mike Leigh with her richest character yet […]

Director Mike Leigh vividly remembers the 1997 Academy Awards, where Marianne Jean-Baptiste was nominated for best supporting actress for her role in his best picture nominee “Secrets & Lies.” “She should have won,” Leigh said during an interview at the Variety Studio, sponsored by J Crew and SharkNinja, during the Toronto International Film Festival. Jean-Baptiste […]

The first trailer for Mike Leigh’s latest feature “Hard Truths” had been unveiled, showing its lead star Marianne Jean-Baptiste embarking on an angry rampage against supermarket check out clerks, unsuspecting members of the public and her family. “People, can’t stand ’em,” she exclaims in the trailer, released ahead of the film’s world premiere in Toronto […]