Secrets and Lies Star Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays Pansy, a woman prone to furious tirades against her family, in the trailer for Mike Leigh's film Hard truths released before its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
“Why are you so mad? Because you can't enjoy your life,” asks Pansy's sister, played by Michele Austin, at one point in the teaser trailer. “I don't know!” replies Jean-Baptiste's character.
But Leigh's latest film, a drama about family and the thorny bonds that bind us, suggests through the trailer that a lifetime of pain and hardship has left Pansy haunted by fear and emotional distress, and struggling to make peace with her long-suffering sister.
Hard truths will have its world premiere at TIFF on Friday at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. Secrets and Lieswhich premiered at Cannes in 1996, winning the Palme d'Or, starred Jean-Baptiste as a wealthy black professional woman who searches for her biological mother, a poor white factory worker living in East London, played by Brenda Blethyn. Jean-Baptiste was nominated for an Oscar for her performance, which marked her international success.
Other Leigh regulars returning for Hard truths include producer Georgina Lowe, director of photography Dick Pope, costume designer Jacqueline Durran, production designer Suzie Davis, composer Gary Yershon and casting director Nina Gold.
Bleecker Street Pre-Purchased Hard truths and will release the film theatrically in the United States later this year. Studiocanal will distribute the film in the UK, while Cornerstone Films will handle international sales. Co-financed by Film4, Hard truths is a co-production of Thin Man Films and The Mediapro Studio, made in association with Creativity Media