Secrets & Lies

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Secrets & Lies

R,

1996,

2h 22m,

Drama

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Watchlist

95%

42 Reviews

Tomatometer

91%

10,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

95%

Tomatometer

42 Reviews

91%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

After her adoptive mother dies, Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a successful black eye doctor, seeks out her birth mother. She's shocked when her research leads her to a lower-class white woman, Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn). At first Cynthia denies the claim, but she eventually admits to birthing Hortense as a teenager, and the two begin to bond. However, when Cynthia invites Hortense to a family barbecue, Cynthia's already tense relationship with her family becomes even more complicated.

Critics Consensus

Secrets & Lies delves into social issues with delicate aplomb and across-the-board incredible acting, and stands as one of writer-director Mike Leigh's most powerful works.

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Adam Mars-Jones

Independent (UK)

Nov 15, 2017

Secrets and Lies is a beautifully constructed sentimental melodrama, with none of the rough edges that Mike Leigh has insisted on in the past.

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Eric Henderson

Slant Magazine

Feb 19, 2005

3/4

Secrets & Lies is littered with scenes that begin at a fever pitch before descending into a becalmed, meditative state.

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Mike Clark

USA Today

Jan 1, 2000

4/4

Leigh's best work yet is indisputably screen art, but it's a flesh-and-blood 'people' movie, too.

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Dan DiNicola

The Daily Gazette (Schenectady, NY)

Apr 10, 2026

A+

A masterpiece brought to us by Mike Leigh who has no peer when it comes to depicting working-class families.

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Noël Herpe

Positif

May 3, 2022

This is exactly the challenge taken up by Leigh: bring film back to its community calling and remember that, beyond the confusion of images and identities, there are... people with pasts, sufferings, things to say, families -- and we are all part of it.

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Tom Cassidy

Common Sense Media

Mar 4, 2022

5/5

A benchmark for comedy dramas, this award-winning 1996 film is a bonafide masterpiece.

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Albus W

Jun 21, 2018

Secrets & Lies is a 1996 British drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh. AAN GGND PdO 1001

Hermione S

May 22, 2018

Good movie but depressing and background music just bring it all together.

Hagrid L

Mar 15, 2018

Mike Leigh's steady direction is really impressive, and he creates a largely improvised family drama that surprises us with many nuances and for being so engaging, relying especially on two outstanding Oscar-nominated performances by Brenda Blethyn and Marianne Jean-Baptiste.

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Rey S

Sep 3, 2017

It's hard to like an overlong film full of people you'd normally avoid with irritating pommy mannerisms accompanied by godawful background music. Parts of the movie elicit empathy but not worth the pain without a fast forward button.

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Mike Leigh

Director

Timothy Spall

Maurice Purley

Brenda Blethyn

Cynthia Rose Purley

Phyllis Logan

Monica Purley

Marianne Jean-Baptiste

Hortense Cumberbatch

Claire Rushbrook

Roxanne Purley

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Synopsis

After her adoptive mother dies, Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a successful black eye doctor, seeks out her birth mother. She's shocked when her research leads her to a lower-class white woman, Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn). At first Cynthia denies the claim, but she eventually admits to birthing Hortense as a teenager, and the two begin to bond. However, when Cynthia invites Hortense to a family barbecue, Cynthia's already tense relationship with her family becomes even more complicated.

Director: Mike Leigh
Producer: Simon Channing Williams
Screenwriter: Mike Leigh
Distributor: October Films
Production Co: Thin Man Films, Channel Four Films
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: British English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 25, 1996, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 15, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA): $13.4M
Runtime: 2h 22m

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