Secrets & Lies is a 1996 drama film. The ensemble cast 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 – and discovers that her birth mother, Cynthia, played by Brenda Blethyn, is a working-class white woman with a dysfunctional family. 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. Another from my Max watchlist, this one is definitely worth seeking out.
trailer:
Criterion closes with this: "Born from a painstaking process of rehearsal and improvisation with a powerhouse ensemble cast, Secrets & Lies is a Palme d’Or–winning tour de force of sustained tension and catharsis that lays bare the emotional fault lines running beneath everyday lives." Roger Ebert has it on his list of Best Movies. 96% of Rotten Tomatoes critics gave it a positive review. (This does not mean that the movie got an average rating of 96 -that's not how Rotten Tomatoes works- but that 96% of their reviewers gave it a positive overall review rather than a negative.)
*******
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Beautiful blog
ReplyDeleteThank you :)
DeleteBeautiful blog
ReplyDelete...another one that passed me by.
ReplyDeleteMe, too, as most films do. It's impossible to keep up.
DeleteThis looks good!
ReplyDeleteThis one's definitely worth your time if you have access to it.
DeleteA good cast.
ReplyDeleteI do like both Brenda Blethyn and Timothy Spall.
All the best Jan
Yes, the cast does a great job here.
DeleteI was SURE I left a comment here, but obviously not. I've never heard of any of these actors. It sounds like a decent film, though.
ReplyDeleteBrenda Blethyn plays "Vera". She's great in everything I've seen her in.
Delete