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Secrets & Lies

Play trailer Poster for Secrets & Lies R 1996 2h 22m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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95% Tomatometer 44 Reviews 91% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
After her adoptive mother dies, Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a successful black eye doctor, seeks out her birth mother. She's shocked when her research leads her to a lower-class white woman, Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn). At first Cynthia denies the claim, but she eventually admits to birthing Hortense as a teenager, and the two begin to bond. However, when Cynthia invites Hortense to a family barbecue, Cynthia's already tense relationship with her family becomes even more complicated.
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Secrets & Lies

Secrets & Lies

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Critics Consensus

Secrets & Lies delves into social issues with delicate aplomb and across-the-board incredible acting, and stands as one of writer-director Mike Leigh's most powerful works.

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Critics Reviews

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Adam Mars-Jones Independent (UK) 11/15/2017
Secrets and Lies is a beautifully constructed sentimental melodrama, with none of the rough edges that Mike Leigh has insisted on in the past. Go to Full Review Eric Henderson Slant Magazine 02/19/2005
3/4
Secrets & Lies is littered with scenes that begin at a fever pitch before descending into a becalmed, meditative state. Go to Full Review Mike Clark USA Today 01/01/2000
4/4
Leigh's best work yet is indisputably screen art, but it's a flesh-and-blood 'people' movie, too. Go to Full Review Brian Susbielles InSession Film 03/06/2023
Whether it be a contemporary or a period piece, Leigh once again provides a provocative portrait on a subject that can (dis)connect the family dynamics in any area. Go to Full Review Noël Herpe Positif 05/03/2022
This is exactly the challenge taken up by Leigh: bring film back to its community calling and remember that, beyond the confusion of images and identities, there are... people with pasts, sufferings, things to say, families -- and we are all part of it. Go to Full Review Tom Cassidy Common Sense Media 03/04/2022
5/5
A benchmark for comedy dramas, this award-winning 1996 film is a bonafide masterpiece. Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Karen S @KLS128 Feb 23 Wow, did Mike Leigh ever get this right! He must be adopted himself to have understood exactly the emotions that surface during reunions. The birth mother’s seemingly endless grief, the adoptee’s immense patience holding space for her while suppressing her own emotional turmoil. The chaos that ensues when family members who have kept secrets for a lifetime come clean. The eventual moving on from the pain and unconditional acceptance that results. The direction and acting were brilliant and flawless. Well done Mike. See more RichardAB T @PoorDearRichard Jan 24 Secrets & Lies makes you feel like you’re intruding on the most intimate corners of someone else’s life, and for some reason, I can’t help but relate to films about family turmoil. Brenda Blethyn as Cynthia Purley is a masterclass in raw, unvarnished vulnerability — she doesn’t just act, she inhabits a woman teetering on the edge of collapse, every nerve exposed. Phyllis Logan’s Monica Purley provides the perfect counterpoint: a rigid, icy fortress of suburban repression against Cynthia’s chaotic emotionality. Watching these two together is mesmerizing, and they are two of my favorite actresses. Easily one of my top ten films, and one I find myself returning to at least once a year. See more Patrick S @PatrickStruik Dec 13 Mike Leigh masterpiece. See more Alec B @Alec97 Apr 9 Thankfully Leigh was the writer/director as this same set-up could be maudlin in less capable hands. Blethyn does give one of my absolute favorite performances here. So real that you could be mistaken for thinking it was a documentary. See more David F @dfulmer 03/16/2025 This is a fantastic film about an adopted woman who seeks out her birth mother and the troubled family of her birth mother. It is tender, heartbreaking, entertaining, funny, touching, and so much more. This, truly, is cinema. See more Nathan S @RT36190042 03/10/2025 Never ever watch this film, brenda blethyn spoils it with her constant booing and stupid voice! See more Read all reviews
Secrets & Lies

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Cast & Crew

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Mike Leigh

Director

Timothy Spall

Maurice Purley

Brenda Blethyn

Cynthia Rose Purley

Phyllis Logan

Monica Purley

Marianne Jean-Baptiste

Hortense Cumberbatch

Claire Rushbrook

Roxanne Purley

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Secrets & Lies

Secrets & Lies (1996) Secrets & Lies (1996) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis After her adoptive mother dies, Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a successful black eye doctor, seeks out her birth mother. She's shocked when her research leads her to a lower-class white woman, Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn). At first Cynthia denies the claim, but she eventually admits to birthing Hortense as a teenager, and the two begin to bond. However, when Cynthia invites Hortense to a family barbecue, Cynthia's already tense relationship with her family becomes even more complicated.
Director
Mike Leigh
Producer
Simon Channing Williams
Screenwriter
Mike Leigh
Distributor
October Films
Production Co
Thin Man Films, Channel Four Films
Rating
R
Genre
Drama
Original Language
British English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 25, 1996, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Oct 15, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA)
$13.4M
Runtime
2h 22m
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