Secrets & Lies (1997)

Secrets & Lies (1997)

R

A woman’s search for her birth mother sends shockwaves through a family’s world

The Very Best

8.7

Movie

France, United Kingdom
English
Drama
1997
MIKE LEIGH
Alison Steadman, Angela Curran, Anthony O'Donnell
142 min

What it's about

After her adoptive mother dies, Hortense, a successful black optometrist, seeks out her birth mother. She's shocked when her research leads her to a working class white woman, Cynthia.

The take

A woman yearns to find her biological mother, another woman struggles with infertility, a third wants to connect with her rebellious daughter. Director Mike Leigh has the prowess to seamlessly weave these stories together, and part of the joy is knowing, that like clockwork, these narratives are set on a spectacular collision course.

As melancholy as it is optimistic and as funny as it is tragic, Secrets & Lies is a perfect example of Leigh’s oeuvre and earned him a Cannes’ Palme d’Or. The film features a full cast of his regulars with the fantastic addition of Marianne Jean Baptiste as Hortense - the woman who sets the wheels of the film in motion.

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