Secrets & Lies (1996)

A successful black woman discovers that her birth mother is a underprivileged white woman, but the woman denies it. As emotions run high, everyone's secrets are exposed.

Director:

Mike Leigh

Writer:

Mike Leigh

Stars:

Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn, Phyllis Logan

Nominated for 5 Oscars. Another 34 wins & 41 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Timothy Spall	...	Maurice
Phyllis Logan	...	Monica
Brenda Blethyn	...	Cynthia
Claire Rushbrook	...	Roxanne
Marianne Jean-Baptiste	...	Hortense
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
Clare Perkins	...	Hortense's Sister-in-Law
Elias Perkins McCook	...	Hortense's Nephew

Storyline

Cynthia lives in London with her sullen street-sweeper daughter. Her brother has been successful with his photographer's business and now lives nearby in a more upmarket house. But Cynthia hasn't even been invited round there after a year. So, all round, she feels rather lonely and isolated. Meanwhile, in another part of town, Hortense, adopted at birth but now grown up, starts to try and trace her mother.

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Plot Keywords:

dysfunctional family | infertility | kiss | birth mother | british renaissance | 

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Taglines:

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.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Country:

UK France

Language:

English Greek

Release Date:

28 February 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Secrets & Lies

Filming Locations:

Junction of Whitehouse Way and Hampden Way, Southgate, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$4,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$60,813, 29 September 1996, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$13,417,292, 18 May 1997

Company Credits

Production Co:

Channel Four Films, CiBy 2000, Thin Man Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

136 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

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.

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Goofs

Cynthia's address on Hortense's birth certificate is shown as Quilter St, London SE17. The first time Hortense drives there, the street sign shows Quilter St, E2.

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Quotes

Cynthia Purley: But sweetheart, I can't be your mother!
Hortense Cumerbatch: Why not?
Cynthia Purley: Well... look at me!

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Connections

Referenced in The Book That Wrote Itself (1999)

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Soundtracks

Happy Birthday to You
Words by Patty S. Hill & Mildred J. Hill (as Mildred Hill)
© Keith Prowse Music Pub Co. Ltd./EMI
Sung by the family at Roxanne's birthday party

User Reviews

superb comedy/drama

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.