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Secrets And Lies [DVD] [1996]
 
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Secrets And Lies [DVD] [1996]

DVD ~ Timothy Spall
5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Secrets And Lies [DVD] [1996]
39% buy the item featured on this page:
Secrets And Lies [DVD] [1996] 5.0 out of 5 stars (7)
Happy-Go-Lucky [DVD] [2008]
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Happy-Go-Lucky [DVD] [2008] 3.4 out of 5 stars (39)
£4.98
Secrets & Lies [DVD] [1996]
17% buy
Secrets & Lies [DVD] [1996] 4.7 out of 5 stars (10)
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Product details

  • Actors: Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn, Phyllis Logan, Claire Rushbrook, Marianne Jean-Baptiste
  • Directors: Mike Leigh
  • Format: PAL
  • Language English
  • Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
  • Number of discs: 1
  • Classification: 15
  • Studio: 4dvd
  • DVD Release Date: 17 Sep 2007
  • Run Time: 136 minutes
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • ASIN: B000S399DI
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 10,439 in DVD (See Bestsellers in DVD)

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Reviews

Synopsis

Mike Leigh's multi award-winning drama, Secrets And Lies, is both hysterically funny and profoundly sad in its portrayal of a wounded British family. Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) is a young black optometrist who has just buried her beloved adoptive mother. In her sorrow she embarks on a search for her birth mother, who turns out to be Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn), a white factory worker living a lonely life with her surly daughter Roxanne (Claire Rushbrook). No one in the family--except Cynthia's brother Maurice (Timothy Spall) and his wife Monica (Phyllis Logan)--knows that Cynthia gave up a child for adoption as a teenager, without ever seeing the baby. Hortense contacts Cynthia and after a heart-wrenching reconciliation they become best friends. Maurice and Monica--childless but financially secure--are very fond of Roxanne and host a family barbeque to celebrate her twenty-first birthday. Cynthia convinces Hortense to attend the party and meet the family--as a mate from the factory--but during the celebrations the family's secrets and lies emerge in a very cathartic, emotional moment. Leigh's trademark for developing his characters and storylines from an intense series of improvisations with the actors reaches its summit with Hortense and Cynthia's reunion in a coffee shop, resulting in another deeply moving portrait of a family at a personal crossroads.

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Shook me up, 11 Dec 2007
By Morris (Essex) - See all my reviews
I saw this a decade ago and it shook me up then. Now, even more. I did find the birth mother's performance at once over the top and perfect and I'm torn between trying to decide if this is a perfect film or just some really great movie that got made by accident. Either way, you should see it. A marvelous commentary on race and society. Right-on hit the mark as far as accents and attitudes. Hortense is a treasure and the centerpiece of this film.
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5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Minor classic, 16 Nov 2007
By Brendan O. Clarke "brendoclarke" (Edinburgh) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
Simply put, Secrets & Lies is about how secrets and lies are bad and how much better things can be if you just open up. As upbeat and sunny as that sounds, this is a Mike Leigh film so that means along the way we have to endure a lot of working class British people looking glum, staring vacantly, and generally treating each other rather awfully. You keep wanting to yell at these people to turn on a TV or play some music or just do something to lighten up! And when they finally manage to have a party, you can be sure that it will be a disaster of biblical proportions. Despite all this and the fact that in the end the message is rather simplistic, the movie is a gem. It is crammed so full of wonderful moments and touches (the way a photographer gets his subjects to smile, a woman describing her appetite by saying "I'm ravishing," a self-conscious woman who keeps putting down toilet seats) that you can't keep up with them all. This film may not be everyone's cup of tea, and it certainly is of no use to the UK tourist board, but if you have a little patience it yields more than its share of rewards.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding film., 18 Dec 2007
By Mr. Kenneth J. Hodges "kenvisions" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Quite simply one of the best films ever made, and one that will stand repeated viewings.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars DVD includes the classic short, A Sense of History
...and I haven't seen the brilliant and hilarious piece on any other DVD. To have it on a DVD with such a good feature film is double brilliant. Read more
Published 12 days ago by Lou Knee

5.0 out of 5 stars Mike Leigh at his best
Secrets and Lies is a film with Timothy Spall at its heart and at his best. He is the pivotal figure in a family full of secrets that have ruined relationships between Spall's... Read more
Published 12 days ago by Mr. S. D. Middleton

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving Performances
Everyone shines in this film. Excellent cast!
The great chemistry between the actors is evident throughout. This is one of my favourite 'Brit-flicks', without a doubt! Read more
Published 16 days ago by John Chorlton

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding - but make sure you are ready for a tear or two at the end
Stylish, incredibly well-written, intelligent but most of all, moving, realistic and thought-provoking. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Paul Mosson

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