Mike Leigh movies feel like a magic trick. Observational, wry, funny, devastating and always rooted in character, Leigh allows us to take in some of the most fascinating people, the milieu they inhabit, those around them, their idiosyncrasies in the way they move about the world (cheerfully, as in “Happy-Go-Lucky”; chaotically in “Naked,” to name a few notable examples). Then suddenly, a confession, a conflict, a conversation becomes a revelation, and the whole thing blossoms, unfolding to reveal the tender inner petals of life.

In partnership with his actors, Leigh excavates and displays the most vulnerable emotions and experiences a person can have, his films slowly building to cathartic crescendos, with glimmers of hope and salvation shining through. “How does he do it?” is a common refrain — at least for this critic — when watching a film by the legendary Leigh, and in fact, there is a specific answer to that question.

But first, the latest film from the 81-year-old British auteur is “Hard Truths,” a reunion with Marianne Jean-Baptiste, the star of his 1996 film “Secrets & Lies,” for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. Co-starring is Michele Austin, who also appeared in “Secrets & Lies,” and “Hard Truths” was shot by longtime Leigh cinematographer Dick Pope, the last film he made before he died in October 2024.

The reunion is some 20 years in the making, but Leigh’s filmmaking process is unorthodox and lengthy, requiring an intense amount of character work with the actors, in which the script is developed through improvisation and rehearsal. But it’s through this journey that these characters feel so real, the performances so lived in.

“Hard Truths” is the story of a woman, Pansy (Jean-Baptiste) who finds the world very hard to navigate. She is, in a word, angry, at everything and everyone. This is a woman who wakes up in a fright, glowers at pigeons, scrubs her home in a panicked fury, upbraids her adult son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett), and dismisses her plumber husband Curtley (David Webber). That’s even before she ventures out into the world to terrorize doctors, dentists, the patrons of furniture stores and denizens of various car parks.

It takes a moment to realize that you can laugh in “Hard Truths,” but indeed, Pansy — and Jean-Baptiste’s performance of her — is quite funny, especially in the dichotomy of her reality and her worldview. Their small patch of backyard is “godforsaken wilderness”; a toolshed a “rat-infested hovel.” She launches into a tirade about “grinning, cheerful charity workers” who scam you, and questions why a dog needs a coat and babies need pockets. “What’s a baby got pockets for? What’s it going to keep in its pocket, a knife?” Spitting every word like it’s coated in poison, with her British West Indian lilt coming through, watching Pansy insult and argue is undeniably funny. It is also incredibly sad, especially as Moses and Curtley quietly shrink from her rage, two large men making themselves small.

Only Jean-Baptiste could make such a screed so funny, so piercing and so devastating. But Pansy’s bark is much worse than her bite (though her bark is unmatched). It’s not like she enjoys this process of dressing down, it’s as if she’s compelled to do it. She can’t help it. Her anger masks her fear, providing a spiky, protective exoskeleton.

Standing in stark contrast is Pansy’s sister, Chantelle (Austin) a warm, empathetic hairdresser happy to listen to her clients as they unspool their tales in her chair. Her apartment, full of plants, laughter and gossip with her lively daughters, bursts with life, in opposition to Pansy’s sterile, cold, monochromatic space.

Chantelle and Pansy will have their reckoning, as Pansy rants at their mother’s grave, careening toward the climax of her rage. It is not one of her superficial screeds but a heart-stopping moment of real honesty and gutting admission that will cleave the viewer wide open — and leaves Pansy eerily quiet. It’s in the silence that Jean-Baptiste’s gifts as an actor shine. She harangues like nobody’s business, but breaks your heart when she’s at a loss for words.

This singular character and bone-deep embodiment of her in a bravura performance; this observation of her life that creeps up on you with its sheer, naked humanism are Leigh signatures, his films some of the purest dramatic expressions of the human experience, in every absurd, gut-wrenching, ugly and beautiful way. The truth is that his magic isn’t a mystery, it just requires time, collaboration and care for storytelling and character, elements that seem to be in shorter and shorter supply in moviemaking. “Hard Truths” is a rare gift — don’t miss it.

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‘HARD TRUTHS’

4 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for language)

Running time: 1:37

How to watch: In theaters Jan. 10

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