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Category:    Home > Reviews > Drama > Foreign > Secrets & Lies

Secrets & Lies

 

Picture: B-     Sound: B-     Extras: C-     Film: B+

 

 

Mike Leigh is known for his improvisational set-ups and after years of feature-length films for British TV and movie houses that were so interesting, some of those telefilms got theatrical distribution in the U.S., he found new critical and commercial success with his 1996 Secrets & Lies.  Originally released by the fledgling October Films, the film helped get the company sold to Universal Pictures.  Years later, Fox has the rights and has issued it on DVD.

 

Brenda Blethyn and Marianne Jean-Baptiste, two of the most underrated actresses around, play a mother and daughter reuniting after mother gave daughter up at birth.  Cynthia (Blethyn) went on to get married and have a family, but they are struggling though life unhappy and in the lower part of England’s dark caste-like socio-economic system.  Her daughter Roxanne (Claire Rushbrook) is still living at home and unhappy, while her brother Morris (the great Timothy Spall) is not exactly happy with life as a photographer years later.  Hortence (Jean-Baptiste) is seen at the beginning of the film at a funeral, an event that brings her to finding out her real birth mother (Blethyn) is not who she thought and is still alive.

 

That comes as a shock to Cynthia, until she remembers how this is true.  They slowly start to talk, but pursuing a relationship is extremely difficult.  Hortence wants to know her, but that she is black and Cynthia white throws Cynthia for a loop.  At the same time, Cynthia is so unhappy and her life so dysfunctional that she starts to slowly come around to wanting to meet her halfway, though the old wounds and new damage it will do to her current family is unavoidably ugly and angry.  There is no apparent racism among them at first, but other problems surface that give more than enough credence to the title.

 

Having seen Leigh’s work at its most overrated (Topsy Turvy) and the early work that put him on the map (see Water Bearer’s three comprehensive Mike Leigh Collection sets reviewed elsewhere on this site) from England outward, he made some good films.  The reason why Secrets & Lies works is because the casting is flawless, Leigh leaves his pretensions behind (if he knows he has them) in a way like never before, and both Blethyn and Jean-Baptiste are unforgettable as the lost being found.  That they pull of convincing chemistry and bringing the characters together is an unbelievable achievement actors rarely pull off in any filmmaking.  This runs 142 minutes, and every moment is remarkable.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image was shot by Dick Pope, B.S.C., and takes a step beyond all of Leigh previous work in how smooth the intimacy is so much so that you forget you are watching a film at times.  Video Black is a slight problem, but this is also a transfer with some detail and depth that makes up for this.  The audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with Pro Logic surrounds from the theatrical Dolby SR analog sound.  That is not bad and Andrew Dickson score is very effective.  The only extra is four trailers, including one for this film and one for Bob Rafelson’s underrated Blood & Wine, long overdue on DVD.

 

The subtle comedy that comes out of the most sensitive of situations is a dimension that makes this even more amazing.  If you have heard of Secrets & Lies but never seen it, this is a must to catch.  If you liked it before, you will love how well it has appreciated.  It remains Leigh’s best work, though we will look at Vera Drake down the line.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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