Secrets and Lies Movie Review 1995

Too-long film focusing on family and identity. The adoptive parents of black Yuppie Londoner Hortense (Jean-Baptiste) have just died and she decides it's time to seek out her birth parents. She's warned about the emotional consequences, especially upon discovering her biological mother is white--factory worker Cynthia (Blethyn), who has another daughter, Roxanne (Rushbrook), who doesn't get along with mum. Naturally, when Hortense is introduced to the rest of Cynthia's family, there's lots of dysfunction to explore. Good performances, although Hortense's character is bland, but pacing drags.

Distribution

Fox Home Entertainment, PO Box 900, Beverly Hills, CA 90213, Phone: (310)369-3900, Toll-free: 888-223-4FOX, Fax: (310)369-5811, URL: http://www.foxmovies.com/index1.html, Remarks: Also known as Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Available on VHS
Running time 142 minutes.
Originally from British.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Family Reunions, Adoption & Orphans, London, Parenthood

Screenplay

Mike Leigh

Cast

Brenda Blethyn, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Timothy Spall, Claire Rushbrook, Phyllis Logan, Lee Ross, Ron Cook, Leslie Manville

Cinematography

Dick Pope

Director

Mike Leigh

Music

Andrew Dickson

Other

Alison Steadman

Producer

Simon Channing-Williams, England Channel 4 London, CIBY 2000, Film Four International, October Films

Awards

Australian Film Inst. 1997: Foreign Film; British Acad. 1996: Actress (Blethyn), Orig. Screenplay; Cannes 1996: Actress (Blethyn), Film; Golden Globes 1997: Actress--Drama (Blethyn); L.A. Film Critics 1996: Actress (Blethyn), Director (Leigh), Film.