Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), protagonist of Mike Leigh’s “Hard Truths,” opening Friday in Houston, is not the first postmenopausal cinematic antiheroine to ask to speak to a manager. But she is — apologies to Frances McDormand’s career — the most fascinating.

“Hard Truths,” a Bleecker Street release in theaters Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for language. Running time: 97 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.

Marianne Jean-Baptiste gives an Oscar-caliber performance as a bitter angry woman who strikes out at everyone she encounters in this funny, painfully dramatic slice-of-life from veteran English director Mike Leigh.