Monica comes across as abrupt, but later scenes reveal that she suffers from severe menstrual cramps and Monica makes concerted efforts to placate matters and be contrite. Maurice and Monica also experience domestic tensions. Both are frustrated with one another and getting on one another's nerves. Hortense meets her and later meets Cynthia's brother, Maurice Purley, a photographer, his wife Monica, and Cynthia's daughter Roxanne, a street cleaner.Īt the Purleys', it is evident that severe tensions exist between Roxanne and her mother. Her birth mother, Cynthia Purley, is working class and downwardly mobile. After being warned by public officials about the troubles she could face by tracking her birth mother down, she continues her investigation and is baffled to learn that her birth mother is white but does not resent her and wants to know more about her past. The film tells the story of Hortense Cumberbatch, a successful black middle class optometrist in London, who is adopted and has chosen to trace her family history after the death of her adoptive mother. It also received five Academy Award nominations, while Blethyn also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for her portrayal. At the 50th British Academy Film Awards, the film received seven nominations, winning both Best British Film and Best Original Screenplay. Critically acclaimed, the film won numerous other awards, including the Goya Award for Best European Film and the LFCC Award for Film of the Year. It eventually won three awards, including the Best Actress award for Blethyn and the Palme d'Or. Secrets & Lies was one of the films competing for the Palme d'Or at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. Claire Rushbrook co-stars as Cynthia's other daughter Roxanne, while Timothy Spall and Phyllis Logan portray Cynthia's brother and sister-in-law, who have secrets of their own affecting their everyday family life. Led by an ensemble cast consisting of many Leigh regulars, it stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Hortense, a well-educated black middle-class London optometrist, who was adopted as a baby and has chosen to trace her family history – only to discover that her birth mother, Cynthia, played by Brenda Blethyn, is a working-class white woman with a dysfunctional family. Instead we lean in, enjoy the company and cringe, laugh, cry, and love along the way.Secrets & Lies is a 1996 British drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh. The story is drip-fed by Leigh, with the audience having to wait for key revelations that explain behaviors, reactions, and relationships. Add to that a never better Brenda Blethyn as factory worker Cynthia, who is reunited with the daughter she gave up for adoption decades ago. The performances and direction are so good that small-scale set pieces, such as a suburban barbecue, become movie masterclasses.ĭespite some difficult themes, including the loss of parents, its message is ultimately hopeful, with growth and warmth underpinning it all. Its characters are flawed, sometimes absurd, but utterly believable, with every cast member making the screen sizzle. This slice of life movie is brimming with just that: life. For Secrets & Lies, writer-director Mike Leigh took the 1960s British gritty kitchen sink drama and updated it with laughs and heart, the legacy of which can be seen in all good comedic dramas that followed. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.Ī benchmark for comedy dramas, this award-winning 1996 film is a bonafide masterpiece. There is some talk of sex and contraception, and in one scene a couple kiss and strip on a bed with the implication being they have sex. The movie is a drama with comedic moments and features strong language, including "f-k," "s-t," "bollocks," and British slang such as "tosser." Cigarettes are a go-to for stress relief for some characters and others drink wine. The main story revolves around Hortense ( Marianne Jean-Baptiste), an adopted woman of colour, finding out her birth mother - played by Brenda Blethyn - is White and attempting to form a relationship with her. While some are adrift emotionally, together they learn to improve their situations. Almost all the main characters are kind at heart. The acclaimed movie carries a positive message of sharing emotions and feelings among family. Parents need to know that Secrets & Lies is a BAFTA-winning, darkly comic British family drama with themes of adoption and grief, as well as some strong language.
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