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Secrets and Lies

1996

Mike Leigh

Brenda Blethyn, Timothy Spall, Phyllis Logan, Marianne Jean-Baptiste ...

7.7

15,465

Drama This powerful drama film follows London doctor Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), an intelligent middle-class black woman who was adopted and now decides to track down her biological mother. But her daunting discovery is that her natural mother Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn) is white and working class. Cynthia is doubtful of Hortense’s claim until she presents her birth certificate, then Cynthia's painful memories begin to reappear. Cynthia ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times	"[It] unfolds with the fascination of eavesdropping (...) 'Secrets & Lies' is a good deal funnier and more entertaining than we have any right to expect (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"Transcendent and moving, not to mention blisteringly funny (...) Leigh’s most accessible and heartfelt film"	POS
United Kingdom	Time Out	Yes, it's long, visually a little static (...) but that depth, focus and intensity of concentration result in a film of extraordinary emotional riches. Spellbinding."	POS
United States	Variety Staff Variety	"'Secrets & Lies' is unquestionably a finely observed, deeply felt work, though with some nagging problems in pacing and structure."	NEU
United Kingdom	Jonathan Romney The Guardian	"Hilarious and gruelling by turn, Secrets & Lies proves that a film can have a big heart and a harsh edge"	POS
United Kingdom	David Cavanagh Empire	"Superbly observed, deeply touching comedy drama. These are ordinary people leaving ordinary lives in this quite extraordinary film (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly	"The picture is a crowd-pleaser, all right, but, for all its appeal, a naggingly sanctimonious one. It’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? for the culturally correct ’90s."	NEU
United Kingdom	Adam Mars-Jones The Independent	"Mike Leigh has buried the caricatures and obsessive bleakness to make a sentimental, human melodrama."	POS

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