IMDb > Secrets & Lies (1996)
Secrets & Lies
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Secrets & Lies (1996) More at IMDbPro »

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Secrets & Lies (1996) -- Successful black woman traces her birth mother to a lower-class white woman, who denies it; emotions run high as everyone's secrets are exposed.

Oscar Nominations    Photos    more »

Overview

User Rating:
7.9/10   13,802 votes
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Director:
Writer:
Mike Leigh (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for Secrets & Lies on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
25 October 1996 (USA) more
Genre:
Tagline:
Roxanne drives her mother crazy. Maurice never speaks to his niece. Cynthia has a shock for her family. Monica can't talk to her husband. Hortense has never met her mother.
Plot:
Successful black woman traces her birth mother to a lower-class white woman, who denies it; emotions run high as everyone's secrets are exposed. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 29 wins & 20 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(4 articles)
Producer Channing-Williams Dead
 (From WENN. 14 April 2009, 5:05 AM, PDT)

British Filmmakers Rebuff Hollywood
 (From Studio Briefing - Film News. 13 January 1998)

User Reviews:
superb comedy/drama more (109 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Timothy Spall ... Maurice Purley
Phyllis Logan ... Monica Purley

Brenda Blethyn ... Cynthia Rose Purley

Claire Rushbrook ... Roxanne Purley
Marianne Jean-Baptiste ... Hortense Cumberbatch
Elizabeth Berrington ... Jane
Michele Austin ... Dionne
Lee Ross ... Paul

Lesley Manville ... Social Worker
Ron Cook ... Stuart
Emma Amos ... Girl with Scar
Brian Bovell ... Hortense's Brother
Trevor Laird ... Hortense's Brother
Claire Perkins ... Hortense's Sister-in-Law (as Clare Perkins)
Elias Perkins McCook ... Hortense's Nephew
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Secrets et mensonges (France)
more
MPAA:
Rated R for language.
Runtime:
142 min | USA:136 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Metrocolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
To add a spontaneous effect to the performances, Mike Leigh met with each actor individually and only told them what their character would know at the beginning of the film. As filming progressed the actors were hearing the secrets for the very first time. Brenda Blethyn, for instance, didn't know that Marianne Jean-Baptiste was black. more
Quotes:
Cynthia Purley: Where's this food, then? I'm ravishin'.
[Hortense laughs]
Cynthia Purley: What?
[Hortense chuckles]
more
Movie Connections:
Soundtrack:
Happy Birthday to You more

FAQ

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15 out of 18 people found the following review useful.
superb comedy/drama, 31 August 2004
Author: ginger_sonny from London, England

Mike Leigh's superb comedy-drama of family relationships. Heart-rending, bitter and delightful by turn

Leigh's modern classic captured a brace of Oscar nominations but went home empty handed in the face of The English Patient's near clean sweep. Even Blethyn's Cannes-winning performance lost out to Frances McDormand's Fargo turn (hard to challenge this decision, although in any other year the brilliant Blethyn would have deserved to win). The film eventually racked up a considerable number of awards, its Oscar success aside.

The story, every bit as believable and real as the rest of Leigh's work, centres on a woman, Cynthia Purley (Blethyn ), whose mid-life crisis is further exacerbated by the appearance on the scene of the daughter she gave away at birth, the wonderfully named Hortense Cumberbatch (Baptiste) - a young, beautiful, professional black woman who causes a few eyebrows to be raised in the family, and forces Cynthia to come to terms with her past.

Alternating between high comedy, scathing one-liners (Blethyn telling daughter Rushbrook she has a face like a "slapped arse" is a moment to treasure) and tear-jerking poignancy, with Spall, Rushbrook and Baptiste all offering strong support, this is nothing short of superb.



Verdict A genuine hit for Mike Leigh, Secrets And Lies has the coarse grain of real life, sympathetically and affirmingly fashioned.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Secrets & Lies (1996)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Secrets and Lies is a poor film...worst film I've seen. willywonka-3
How Could She Not Know Patty-76
Hortence's Father lps_darlo
paul's secrets and lies breaktime_kitty
Question about paul jockboynatl
Which scenes were improvised? llodlean
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