Secrets & Lies

1996

Action / Comedy / Drama

42
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 91% · 44 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 91% · 10K ratings
IMDb Rating 8.0/10 10 50941 50.9K

secret london, england parent child relationship adoption socially deprived family reunion

Plot summary

After her adoptive mother dies, Hortense, a successful black optometrist, seeks out her birth mother. She's shocked when her research leads her to Cynthia, a working class white woman.

Director

Mike Leigh Photo
Mike Leigh

Top cast

Clare Perkins Photo
Clare Perkins as Hortense's Sister-in-Law
Michele Austin Photo
Michele Austin as Dionne
Angela Curran Photo
Angela Curran as Little Boy's Mother
David Neilson Photo
David Neilson as Man in Suit
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
934.28 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24.000 fps
2 hr 16 min
Seeds 4
2.06 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24.000 fps
2 hr 16 min
Seeds 17

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by blanche-2 8 / 10

a woman's secret causes family problems to rise to the surface

Brenda Blethyn, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Timothy Spall, Phyllis Logan, and Claire Rushbrook star in "Secrets & Lies," a 1996 film written and directed by Mike Leigh. The script is actually improvised, with the actors learning what the characters learn as they go along.Brenda Blethyn is Cynthia Rose Purley, a factory worker and single mother with an obnoxious daughter, Roxanne (Rushbrook). Cynthia is dependent for the occasional handout by her successful photographer brother, Maurice (Spall). Maurice lives in a lovely home with his wife (Logan); Cynthia can't stand her and the feeling is mutual. Maurice no longer has the relationship that he once had with his niece Roxanne, and this bothers him.Cynthia gets a call one day from a woman named Hortense Cumberbatch (Jean-Baptiste) who claims to be the daughter she gave up for adoption. After some hemming and hawing, Cynthia agrees to meet her at a subway stop. When she meets Hortense, she's shocked. Hortense is black.This is a wonderful, poignant, and funny story with just the right amount of drama and humor. The scene in the restaurant, when Cynthia says that Hortense couldn't possibly be her daughter because she's never been with a black man is absolutely priceless.The performances are tremendous. Brenda Blethyn is marvelous as the fragile, needy, eager to please Cynthia, though the character gets a bit annoying with her high-pitched voice and constant talking. Timothy Spall plays a big man with a big heart and will bring one to tears toward the end of the film. It was great to see Phyllis Logan from Lovejoy in such a marvelous role, and she does a great job. Marianne Jean-Baptiste is wonderful as a successful young woman who fights to keep her equilibrium when she's in the midst of a family explosion.Really enjoyed this -- and I guess the name Cumberbatch isn't as unusual as I thought.
Reviewed by dead47548 9 / 10

Leigh does it again.

Once again, Mike Leigh crafts a film that leaves me completely emotionally drained by the time the credits roll. The film is immensely suspenseful, and this suspense doesn't come in the Hitchcockian 'physical danger around every corner' kind of way. We are exposed to the various secrets and lies formed in this dysfunctional family very early on, and the entire film is just a slow buildup until everything explodes and it is out in the open. We are forced to sit and wait for the inevitable collision of all the painfully awkward secrets that this family contains. Behind all of this is a beautifully operatic score that creates the perfect ambiance to the entire work. As with Leigh's earlier work Naked, he creates an ensemble of strong, detailed and incredibly flawed characters. Everyone has so much inner emotional pain, that when they all end up in a room together your heart explodes with the uncomfortable anguish of every secret revealed. It's a series of savage beatings, one right after the other, that rips your emotional core into pieces and leaves them to be stomped on in the dirt. Of course behind all of this is a beautiful moral, and that's where the film really shines. Behind all of the pain and gut-wrenching heartache, there is a wonderful story that perfectly depicts the folly of secrets and lies. We see that being truthful and honest for your entire life is ultimately the best decision, regardless of how hard it may be. Letting all of the emotional pain build up over the course of decades will only lead to an even more painful conclusion. In the end, it's better to simply be honest and trustworthy.
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