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02/09/06
Secrets & Lies (1996)
94 %
Reviews Counted: 31 Fresh: 29 Rotten:2 Average Rating: 8.7/10
Runtime: 2 hrs 16 mins
Synopsis: Mike Leigh's superlative drama, at once hysterically funny and profoundly sad, examines a wounded contemporary British family. Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a young black optometrist, has just buried her beloved adoptive mother. In her sorrow, she embarks on a search for her birth... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Brenda Blethyn, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Claire Rushbrook, Timothy Spall
Director: Mike Leigh
Reviews
Top Critic
It's hard to argue against it being a sharply observant and deeply felt melodrama, one that is accessible, contemporary and frightingly realistic.
05/07/06
Leigh's script and direction pushes all the right emotional buttons without getting overly melodramatic.
09/14/05
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04/09/05
Leigh's film stops short of catharsis, providing the potential for the characters' rebuilding of their relationships without suggesting that such projects are simple or immediate.
03/01/05
Secrets & Lies is littered with scenes that begin at a fever pitch before descending into a becalmed, meditative state.
02/19/05
The characters are so painfully real it's more like watching a documentary than a made-up story.
07/01/04
His characters look normal, act normal, chatter, and scream. And even when they choose not to speak, not to give away secrets, they’re still heard.
11/13/03
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05/20/03
Top Critic
Terribly overrated but for Brenda Blethyn's devastating realization midway through.
01/16/03
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11/06/02
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