X
- 1996
- R
- October Films
- 2 h 16 m
- 1996
- R
- October Films
- 2 h 16 m
Summary A middle-aged London factory worker is shocked when the mixed-race daughter she gave up at birth decides to track her down. At first she denies she is her mother. All family members become emotional, as everyone's secrets are exposed.
Directed By: Mike Leigh
Written By: Mike Leigh
- 1996
- R
- October Films
- 2 h 16 m
- 1996
- R
- October Films
- 2 h 16 m
Secrets & Lies
8.4
Where to Watch
Summary A middle-aged London factory worker is shocked when the mixed-race daughter she gave up at birth decides to track her down. At first she denies she is her mother. All family members become emotional, as everyone's secrets are exposed.
Directed By: Mike Leigh
Written By: Mike Leigh
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 27 Critic Reviews
92
96% Positive
26 Reviews
26 Reviews
4% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 27 Critic Reviews
92
96% Positive
26 Reviews
26 Reviews
4% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
A magnificent melodrama that draws both tears and laughter from the everyday give-and-take of seemingly ordinary souls.
It moves us on a human level, it keeps us guessing during scenes as unpredictable as life, and it shows us how ordinary people have a chance of somehow coping with their problems, which are rather ordinary, too.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 54 User Ratings
8.4
91% Positive
49 Ratings
49 Ratings
6% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
4% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 54 User Ratings
8.4
91% Positive
49 Ratings
49 Ratings
6% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
4% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Rarely does a movie bring tears to my eyes, this time it did. It's one of the best movies I've ever seen. Humans are complex and act in accordance with many, even contradictory values. The needs they produce may vary, but any attempt to structure them is left wanting. The normally-functioning person, then, is able to access all the states at different times, and, over time, obtain all the different satisfactions that are available in these various states.
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awesome but predictable from the beginning if it is the wife... a true twist would it being the friend... the wife was fishy from the beginning , why is she pointing the murder weapon out to the cops and why is she always letting conelle in when the husband is the suspect...hmmm cuz she did it and she wants all evidence found before the truth comes out that, that was the night she found out he cheated on her with the mother of the murdered child...
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There's not a weak performance in Secrets And Lies, a fact made more notable by the seeming ease with which the cast performs as an ensemble.
Secrets & Lies is all about wounds and our tendency to embrace placebos rather than the harder courses of treatment.
Unquestionably a finely observed, deeply felt work, though with some nagging problems in pacing and structure.
Secrets & Lies is my favorite film from a terrific director in Mike Leigh. It's about intricate and rocky relationships evolving around a family, and at it's heart a woman finding her real mother becoming introduced into this family. It's not just another "searching for birth parent" film, but one of real emotion and complexity. It has a host of terrific performances especially, from the great Brenda Blethyn as the mother struggling in her relations with one daughter, while coming to terms with another she never knew. This is one of my favorite films from the 1990's; just terrific!
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I am a huge Mike Leigh fan and this is his crowning glory. I still remember the first time I saw it at the movies. I had the tears streaming down my face in several parts. The acting is incredible. The story really interesting. It's an I can't miss kind of film. I am baffled that anyone would give it a negative review unless of course the only type of film they like is violent or action adventure. This film is neither that's for sure.
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Mike Leigh reveals to us how secrets and lies can cause upset, pain, and regret in what has to be one of the best British films of all time. With spot-on dialogue and glorious performances it is hard to find fault with Leigh's masterpiece. Just when we thought Cynthia would live out the rest of her days as a worker in a banal factory, with her confrontational daughter Roxanne, she is thrown a life line in the form of Hortense, and we see their relationship flourish. Timothy Spall is also on top form as the glue that holds the family together.
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I can point out ten moments easily where the film hands over all the responsibilities to the actors, it's a breathtaking performance.
Secrets And Lies
Leigh is a family man. He understands the banal relations or relatives we've all got. And he, the writer and director, Mike Leigh knows how to play a friendly chess with them. The primary reason I find his drama confident enough to run on only one piece of information is because he doesn't feel the need to give reasons for their behaviour. They are and will always be simpleton for that very note. Call it kryptonite or sensitivity, the hands starts to shake, voice breaks and, emotions on the surface. Leigh walks on his signature structure in script, i.e. to gather all the energy and motifs of characters and meet at a rendezvous point in its last act where he frames the entire burden of the film in the screen.
And that scene in here, is a dinner table conversation. The camera is set and ready and, the character definitely not. The scene leaves you with chills in your spine and exhilaration is defined all over again. I don't think I have ever been so exhausted after the voice turns silence in the film; for a brief period, you get to have a similar experience after Tom Cruise ends his mission in Christopher McQuarrie's Fallout. Also, whenever something beautiful, simply beautiful comes by, that leaves me happy and satisfied.
It always reminds me of Sam Mendes's American Beauty where the character is capturing varied snippets of nature. And I never thought it could be topped off by something so natural and warm. And then comes this montage of people getting their picture taken. Leigh, I think says a lot with those than he could ever with the film. This is exceptional filmmaking even for Mike Leigh, it is a whole new level. He is so rigid and strong on his views that as a viewer you are told to bend your opinions and Secrets And Lies.
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Woman decides to trace her real mother after the death of her adoptive mother.
Usual Mike Leigh affair with all the grit, tension & emotion you'd expect. Pretty well acted but thought it went a bit annoying towards the end. Thought the musical score was a bit lame too & didn't really fit.
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Production Company
CiBy 2000,
Channel Four Films,
Thin Man Films
Release Date Sep 27, 1996
Duration 2 h 16 m
Rating R
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.
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 5 Nominations
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Win & 3 Nominations
BAFTA Awards
• 3 Wins & 7 Nominations
