Secrets and Lies [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Mike Leigh Mike Leigh

Overview

It is an irony of family life that much of its fabric is held together with the tenuous stitches of every day lies. When suddenly revealed, such small seemingly innocent deceits can cause tears that are difficult to repair. As with other Mike Leigh films, this drama offer a darkly serio-comic look into the dysfunctional lives of average people. Following her adoptive mother's death, Hortense, a successful, black London optometrist, visits a social worker in hopes of finding her biological mother. White single mother Cynthia lives in a decaying part of town. She and her daughter Roxanne have a love-hate relationship and constantly argue. Cynthia's younger brother Maurice, a successful photographer, lives on a better side of town. He is married to the obsessive-compulsive, emotionally distant but abusive Monica. One day, Maurice pays a long overdue visit to Cynthia and offers to host Roxanne's 21st birthday party at his home. Soon afterward Hortense shows up claiming that Cynthia is her birth mother. Cynthia is terrified to see this sudden reminder of her past and matters are not helped when Hortense says exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time. Despite their initial difficulty, the two women's curiosity overcomes their fears and they decide to meet at an empty tearoom. There they become friends and come to a sort of peace, one that threatens the entire family when Cynthia invites Hortense to Roxanne's party. Mike Leigh's first film in since 1993, Secrets and Lies was nominated for several Oscars and earned the Golden Palm award at Cannes in 1996.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/30/2021
UPC:	0715515256810
Original Release:	1996
Rating:	R
Source:	Criterion Collection
Language:	English
Time:	2:22:00
Sales rank:	11,121

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Timothy Spall	Maurice
Brenda Blethyn	Cynthia
Phyllis Logan	Monica
Marianne Jean-Baptiste	Hortense
Claire Rushbrook	Roxanne
Ron Cook	Stuart
Lesley Manville	Social Worker
Elizabeth Berrington	Jane
Michele Austin	Dionne
Lee Ross	Paul
Emma Amos	Girl with Scar
Brian Boyell	Hortense's Brother
Trevor Laird	Hortense's Brother
Clare Perkins	Hortense's Sister-in-Law,Actor
Elias Perkins McCook	Hortense's Nephew
June Mitchell	Senior Optometrist
Janice Acquah	Junior Optician
Keeley Flanders	Girl in Optician's
Hannah Davis	First Bride,Man in Suit
Terence Harvey	First Bride's Father
Kate O'Malley	Second Bride
Joe Tucker	Groom
Richard Syms	Vicar
Grant Master	Best Man
Annie Hayes	Mother in Family Group
Jean Ainslie	Grandmother
Daniel Smith	Teenage Son,Cat Owner
Lucy Sheen	Nurse,Laughing Woman
Frances Ruffelle	Young Mother
Felix Manley	Baby
Nitin Chandra Ganatra	Potential Husband
Metin Marlow	Conjuror
Amanda Crossley	Raunchy Woman
Su Eliot	Raunchy Woman
Di Sherlock	Raunchy Woman
Alex Squires	Triplet,Triplet,Triplet
Dominic Curran	Little Boy,Little Boy's Mother
Stephen Churchett	Man in Suit
David Neilson	Man in Suit
Peter Stockbridge	Man in Suit
Peter Waddington	Man in Suit
Rachel Lewis	Graduate
Paul Trussell	Grinning Husband
Denise Orita	Uneasy Woman
Margery Withers	Elderly Lady
Theresa Watson	Daughter
Gordon Winter	Laughing Man
Jonathan Coyne	Fiance
Peter Wight	Father in Family Group
Gary McDonald	Boxer
Alison Steadman	Dog Owner
Linda Beckett	Pinup Housewife
Wendy Nottingham	Glum Wife
Anthony O'Donnell	Uneasy Man
Mia Soteriou	Fiance
Sheila Kelley	Fertile Mother
Brian Bovell	Actor

Technical Credits

Mike Leigh

Mike Leigh	Director,Screenwriter
Simon Channing-Williams	Producer

Editorial Reviews

Mike Leigh's biggest success in America at the time, 1996's Secrets & Lies was also the closest the renegade director had ever come to fashioning a conventional melodrama. Its universal themes of familial reunion and forgiveness no doubt contributed to its success at the box office -- as well as with the Academy, who nominated it for five Oscars -- but there's no mistaking the unforced, nuanced rhythms of Secrets & Lies for those of a traditional Hollywood tearjerker. As per Leigh's improvisational style, the film spreads its attention democratically amongst its characters until finding its core relationship: the unlikely mother-daughter combo of Brenda Blethyn and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. Alternately histrionic and sympathetic, Academy Award nominee Blethyn chooses not to opt for an overly sympathetic performance à la Shirley MacLaine or Bette Midler; instead, she and Leigh have the courage to make Cynthia somewhat grating at times (an opinion shared by her other daughter, played by the hilariously frustrated Claire Rushbrook). For her part, Best Supporting Actress nominee Jean-Baptiste is a model of reserve and compassion. Watch for her reactions during the train station reunion scene -- Leigh hadn't told either actress whom to expect during the shoot.

All Movie Guide - Michael Hastings