Customer Reviews

Secrets & Lies

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I would call this Mike Leigh's masterpiece, only I've seen many films by this brilliant director since screening this unfairly overlooked gem, and I feel ANY of his movies could be categorized as a "masterpiece".

The movie centers on a black woman named Hortense (the multi-talented Marianne Jean-Baptiste) who, knowing she is adopted, is in the process of trying to discover the identity of her birth mother. She finds her real mother, a lower-class white woman named Cynthia Purley (Brenda Blethyn). Cynthia, unaware that Hortense is trying to look her up, has a more immediate problem - a rebellious daughter, Roxanne (the unfairly ignored Claire Rushbrook), who has no respect for her because of Cynthia's many affairs. Cynthia is also trying to reach out to her successful photographer-brother, Morris (perennial Leigh favorite Timothy Spall), but she can't quite get close to him because of the influence of Morris's seemingly cold wife, Monica (Phyllis Logan).

If anyone knows anything of Mike Leigh's style of direction, you'll know why this film is so amazing . . Leigh doesn't simply write a screenplay and tell the actors what to do, he allows them to improvise and develop the characters themselves; the result is that these characters are more than just one-dimensional cardboard cutouts. ALL of these characters are unable to be categorized; they have characteristics that are UNIQUE and that make us care about them. Their complexity is illustrated not only in their actions and by what they say, but by what is NOT done or said in specific instances. ACTIONS of the characters are important (notice, for example, Hortense's inability to react emotionally, even in the family setting, or her reluctance to touch anyone). Another interesting feature is the way Leigh juxtaposes scenes of Morris taking pictures in his photography shop with the events of the story; we even become enamored by the characters that are seen only briefly, for a second, behind Morris's lens, posing for photographs. The cinematography also helps to add to the film's realism; it has a camcorder effect, without being at all shaky or deficient in sound quality.

Finally, the ending: Some may find the ending overly sentimental; I found it remarkably real (and nowhere NEAR as sugary sweet as those found in Hollywood films). Let me only say that it succeeds in that the viewer isn't given total resolution, yet he is given HOPE; these characters CAN work out their problems with each other, and it raises a question that I (as one who is no stranger to family feuding), find very convicting: why, in family situations, do people so often choose to alienate themselves and suffer alone (often even punishing their loved ones, as illustrated by Roxanne and Monica), instead of SHARING their pain and helping one another?

A great film . .worthy of much praise and able to withstand repeated viewings because of the depth of the story and the people involved. Here's hoping Mike Leigh will retain his style of filmmaking for years to come.

This film is possibly the most emotionally powerful film I have ever seen. I have never cared more for a group of characters as I did for those in "Secrets and Lies." Director/writer Mike Leigh is famous for giving his actors the outlines of their characters and having them improvise most of their lines. This technique succeeds brilliantly here - you feel as if you're a part of these people's lives. All the actors turn in wonderful performances - Brenda Blethyn as the long-suffering poor single English mother, Marianne Jean Baptiste as a young black girl in search of her natural parents, Claire Rushbrook as Blethyn's rebellious daughter, and Phyllis Logan as Blethyn's well-to-do yet frustrated sister in law. At the center of it all is a monumentally understated performance by Timothy Spall, who as Blethyn's brother attempts to hold everyone's lives together as they face the pain of their ordinary existence. A truly moving film that is one of the best ever.

A mild-mannered, intelligent young black woman (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) tracks down her birth mother, Cynthia Purley (Brenda Blethyn), who just happens to be white. That's only the central plot thread in Mike Leigh's very poignant, very funny, very smart family drama, which received well-deserved Oscar nominations for best picture, best director, best actress, best supporting actress, and best original screenplay. A keenly observed piece set in middle-class and upper middle-class England, "Secrets & Lies" offers such an abundance of riches it's hard to know where to begin.

The plot is fairly simple, though the emotions beneath it aren't. Cynthia is initially afraid to meet the child she gave up years ago, but eventually opens up and discovers that her long-lost daughter, Hortense, is not only a sweet and refined young lady, but the possible source of the love and affection she wants so badly. She receives none of that sort of attention from her other daughter, Roxanne, a bitter, sharp-tongued council worker who, like her secret half-sister, was conceived out of wedlock. Adding to the tension is Cynthia's relationship with her brother, Maurice, and his socially ambitious wife, Monica. The latter is pained by her inability to have a child, and particularly despises Cynthia, who is able to bear children but, in Monica's mind, unable to provide them with the family environment and opportunities that she can. All of these threads converge at an afternoon birthday party, during which all the pent-up secrets and lies explode like a sequence of fireworks. Emotions are laid bare, the past is revealed, and finally, the film hints, the healing process can begin.

A synopsis really doesn't do full justice to the sheer impact of this film. In fact, it's almost insulting--and irrelevant--to discuss plot at all. "Secrets & Lies" isn't about plot in the conventional sense; it's about people. Each character is a complex, fully realized human being, brought to life by superior acting. Brenda Blethyn in particular does a spectacular job, and her Cynthia emerges as one of the most hilarious, endearing, and noble human portraits I've ever seen captured on film. Marianne Jean-Baptiste has a less showy role, but she occupies it with equally genuine warmth and humility. The other performances are consistently excellent, with Timothy Spall (Maurice) and Phyllis Long (Monica), who play tortured but thoroughly sympathetic characters, among the standouts.

The actors are complimented by Leigh's superb direction. Each shot has clearly been carefully thought-out, but the camera is so unobtrusive, so casually observing, that it lends "Secrets & Lies" an almost documentary-like feel. And yet, Leigh's compassion for all his characters leaks through every frame. One of the best scenes in the film takes place in a teashop, with Cynthia and Hortense sharing a first meeting that moves from initial awkwardness to humor and hilarity, to intense sadness and finally to catharsis and relief. The scene is an unbroken, unedited single shot lasting for nearly eight minutes, and Blethyn and Jean-Baptiste sustain the dramatic tension for that long without missing a beat. It is a seamless culmination of acting, writing, and cinematography, and represents (I think) one of the most remarkable and honest shots ever committed to celluloid.

Therein lies the secret to the success of "Secrets & Lies"--every moment in the film feels real. That quality is aided by the fact that, as is the case in all of Leigh's other films, the screenplay is a collaboration between both writer/director and actors. The dialogue never sounds scripted or contrived because most of it has been improvised by the actors themselves; thus, it's no wonder that the characters all but leap off the screen, and that spending time with them is such an engaging and rewarding experience.

Some have criticized the film's overly "happy" ending, claiming that it feels a bit too pat to be real. I disagree. The conclusion, though admittedly more optimistic a resolution than most conflicted families can expect, remains utterly true to the characters' personalities and backgrounds. Actually, Leigh trumps the notion that all films attempting to illuminate the human condition must be overly bleak and pessimistic.

"Secrets & Lies" is not a fast-paced film, and at 152 minutes, it's quite long. It could have gone on for hours and hours as far as I was concerned. Mike Leigh has confirmed my long-held notion that American cinema could definitely learn a thing or two from the sure-and-steady British. Without a doubt, one of the best films, if not the best, of 1996.

Dysfunction is better than no function at all in Mike Leigh's "Secrets and Lies". Finally available on DVD to coincide with the Oscar nomination actress Imelda Staunton received for "Vera" (another film directed by Leigh), "Secrets and Lies" tells the story of a successful and well-to-do black woman Hortense Cumberbatch ( Oscar nominated Marianne Jean-Baptiste of "Without a Trace") who tracks down her birth mother. It seems her mother was a lower-class white woman named Monica Purley (Brenda Blethyn, Golden Globe winner and multiple Oscar nominee). Monica denies that she's Hortense's mother but gradually comes to accept and embrace her daughter despite their differences. A bittersweet comedy full of commanding performances, "Secrets and Lies" was a surprising box office success (hence its recognition by the Academy and the multiple nominations it deservedly earned). With rewarding performances all around and Leigh's naturalistic style, "Secrets and Lies" was a winner whether or not it pulled down any gold at Oscar time. Not bad for a guy who used to play in a band with Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music fame.

Many of Leigh's films feature uncompromising performances and partially improvised scripts. This collaborative method makes Leigh's films both unique and memorable even when they aren't very good. Luckily, "Secrets and Lies" is very, very good.

Sadly, this is a pretty bare bones affair. We get the original theatrical trailer and the theatrical trailers for "Author! Author!", "Blood & Wine" and "Class Action". It's a pity as 10 years on, it might have been interesting to catch up with the actors and the impact that their Oscar nominations had on their respective careers. There's also no commentary track but the drama speakes pretty well for itself.

A terrific, bittersweet comedy "Secrets and Lies" details the ordinary secrets we keep to ourselves and hide from each other. Leigh's marvelous direction and the ensemble cast's terrific performances elevate this from a simple movie-of-the-week on something like the Lifetime channel. Leigh's inspired approach to improvising much of the movie's dialogue with his cast (based on his character sketches and background story) creates a drama that is much closer to neo-realism in approach than just about any other film made within the last two decades. Although Leigh's made a number of stunning films, "Secrets and Lies" certainly deserves its reputation as one of his finest glimpses behind the curtain of subterfuge that's a part of the ordinary people in this terrific story.

I've seen a good number of Mike Leigh's films over the years, from early works like Bleak Moments and Abigail's Party to later indie hits like Life Is Sweet, Naked, and High Hopes, but THIS is his BEST, most perfectly realized film to date - from the pitch-perfect performances of the entire cast (due to months of exhaustive rehearsal to develop the each character no matter how small or large the role) to the understated, minimalist direction to the somber score to the conversational "script," SECRETS & LIES slowly builds until its cumulative effect toward the climax is one of the deepest emotional blows ever deliver on film - you feel as if you KNOW and LIVE with these people, so that they cease to be mere characters on screen and, well, like your own circle of family and friends - not always pretty, often messy, always brilliant, SECRETS & LIES deserves to be on DVD to a wider audience can share in its spell it casts over you. My only gripe is Fox's typically bare-bones DVD format - c'mon, NO commentary from Leigh on his creative process, NO insights from the cast, many of which went on to win a clutch of awards and crossover American work (Blethyn, Baptiste, etc.), NO featurette or DELETED scenes! The film itself is enough, I just wish there were a bit more to flesh out the entire experience.

Secrets and Lies is a wonderful movie....one of the very best of the '90s. Mike Leigh is a remarkable talent and he brings out stellar performances from this superb, little known cast. I give the movie 5 stars. This DVD edition, however, is quite awful. Produced in Hong Kong, the video quality is inferior and prominent Chinese subtitles which cannot be removed prove very distracting. Although I'd love to have this movie in my DVD library, the poor quality of the DVD will require me to return it. Amazon, I can rely on you to send me high quality goods, however in this case you have failed. This DVD is not up to your high standards.

Movie is superlative. DVD is very poor. It has no DVD menu. It is impossible to turn the Chinese subtitles off.

I find it impossible to recommend this movie strongly enough. I recently saw it for the first time, and oddly enough knew next to nothing about it. A year or so ago I saw TOPSY-TURVY with some friends, and they were raving about Mike Leigh as a filmmaker. So, when looking through my local video store for something new and intersting to view, two names jumped out at me from the box: Mike Leigh and Brenda Blethyn, whose performance in LITTLE VOICE had impressed me greatly.

I absolutely loved TOPSY-TURVY, but I am not sure but that SECRETS AND LIES is the stronger film. Less flashy, and I can easily imagine someone who does not enjoy dealing exclusively with interpersonal dynamics not particularly enjoying this. But for anyone who can appreciate an intense family drama, this film will be tough to top.

But the thing that most impressed me about SECRETS AND LIES is the acting. Brenda Blethyn was even better here than she was in LITTLE VOICE. In fact, I honestly do not know of any performance by an actor or actress anywhere that I can say is demonstrably better. I just sat in front of my VCR agog at her performance. I later read that she won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival, the British Academy Awards, and the Golden Globe Awards. The only award she failed to win was the Oscar, for which she was nominated, but which went instead to Frances MacDormand in FARGO. I loved FARGO and thought MacDormand did a great job, but if you watch these two performances side by side, you gain additional proof that the voters for the Oscars either do not watch all the films or see this as a sort of popularity contest. Frances MacDormand's performance was cute and her accent was convincing, but Brenda Blethyn's performance was the emotional equivalent of a fist to the guts. Brenda Blethyn should have swept all the acting awards that year with ease. I honestly do not remember a performance anywhere in which so much genuine, intense, and overwhelming emotion is projected. If you have not seen this movie, you owe it to yourself just to see Brenda Blethyn inconceivably great performance.

I was also pleased to see Timothy Spall again, who did such an excellent job of playing so sympathetically Richard Temple (the actor who created the title role in THE MIKAIDO) in TOPSY-TURVY. I have not seen him in every many roles, but after seeing him perform so well in these two very, very different roles, I very much want to see him again.

The performance given by Timothy Spall in this film is probably the best I ever seen in any film. His character is so real and believable it's often hard to be aware that you're not watching a documentary! In fact the whole film is like watching life as it happens out of your window. All the actors give brilliant performances, and the story is very moving. One of my Top 5 all-time favourite films...

I, too, ordered this DVD from Amazon--only to find that it has Chinese subtitles that you CANNOT turn off. Amazon should absolutely include this information in their technical description. The picture quality was poor, and there is no menu or additional features. I could have overlooked the lack of features, but the subtitles are completely distracting. (Additional note: expect the same problem if you order the DVD (import) version of Beautiful Thing, another fabulous British film from a few years ago.)