Mike Leigh talks about his new film, life and career

Like the action in his widely acclaimed new film “Hard Truths,” veteran British director Mike Leigh swings between gratitude and despair as he reflects on his life and career. The 82-year-old is aware of the great fortune he has had to make more than a dozen films over a glittering five-decade run, including “Secrets and Lies” and “Vera Drake.” But he is also conscious of the difficulties for the younger generations coming through — and is scared by the “profoundly worrying” changes underway in the world under US President Donald Trump.

“It’s a privilege to be able to make films and it’s a privilege which is getting tougher to experience,” he told AFP during a retrospective of his work at the prestigious Cinemateque in Paris. “I consider myself very lucky. Filmmaking is a joyous experience.” Already working on his next project despite his growing mobility problems — he suffers from a genetic muscular disease called myositis — Leigh says he is troubled by a sense of the world being on the brink. “It feels like World War Three may be around the corner. “Now, I never thought I’d say that and I’m old enough to remember the end of World War Two, just about. I was born in the war,” he added.

“It’s profoundly worrying and one feels helpless.”

“Hard Truths”, praised as one of the Leigh’s strongest recent films, is a poignant and sometimes darkly comic story of two sisters that whiplashes viewers with similarly contrasting emotions. Lead character Pansy is a clearly depressed, anxious and aggressive married mother-of-one, played with brio by British actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste. Her sister Chantelle (Michele Austin) is friendly, sociable and easy-going, with a home and family life that stands in sharp contrast.

The film reunites the two black British actors from “Secret and Lies”, nearly 30 years after it won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes festival and a host of Oscar nominations. While the 1996 hit was about family and identity, “Hard Truths” is a study in what makes some people pessimists and self-pitying, while others seem to glide through life’s difficulties with smiles on their faces.

As is his custom, Leigh offers no obvious answers on screen — and he dodges a question about his thoughts on the issue. “You’re asking me what’s the secret of life? I’m not so pretentious or so self-opinionated as to pontificate about how to live,” he replied. “I’ve worked very hard. I’ve used my imagination. I was engaged. For me, it’s about engaging with people.”

“Hard Truths” is the first time Leigh has worked with an almost all-black cast, portraying London’s vibrant Caribbean-origin community. He has no time for suggestions that he, a white director, should hesitate about taking on such a challenge. “It seemed a natural thing to do. It’s not a quantum leap.

“I raised my kids in north London and they were at school there and black kids were always running in and out of our house,” he explained.

“But on the other hand, it goes without saying, I couldn’t sit in a room and write a conventional script for such a film.” He used the same collaborative approach he has deployed throughout his career, starting out with an idea, and then running workshops with the actors to develop the characters, dialogue and plot. “In making the decision to centre on black characters.

“One of the deliberate things that I’ve very consciously done is to say: ‘This is not going to be a film that deals in tropes and stereotypes and troubles with the law and drug issues and all the gang stuff’,” Leigh continued.

“The main issues in the film are universal and are not endemic or exclusive to black people,” he added. He declines to talk about his next project but says finding financing is becoming increasingly difficult because backers — particularly the streaming platforms — want so much say in the final product.

Agence France-Presse