Secrets and Lies

UPC: 024543130338

Studio: 20th Century Fox

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Profanity]

Summary: A family is forced to confront the personal issues they've been avoiding for years in this powerful, realistic drama. Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn) is a working-class British woman whose life has been a long series of painful disappointments. She's single with no romantic prospects and a dead-end job at a box factory. Her daughter Roxanne (Claire Rushbrook) works as a street sweeper and is chronically bitter. Cynthia helped raise her brother, Maurice (Timothy Spall), who is doing well as a photographer, but she rarely sees him and usually blames his wife, Monica (Phyllis Logan). One day, Cynthia receives a phone call from a woman named Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), who claims to be the daughter Cynthia put up for adoption years ago. Cynthia initially reacts with panic, but she agrees to meet Hortense and is surprised to discover that she's a successful and soft-spoken eye doctor -- and that she's black. Cynthia is soon convinced that Hortense is just who she claims to be, and they quickly form a friendship that gives Cynthia a new source of emotional strength. However, when Cynthia decides to introduce the family to her new "friend," it forces them to confront the lies and evasions that have kept them apart all these years. Largely improvised by director Mike Leigh and his cast, Secrets & Lies features standout work by Brenda Blethyn (who earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (who was nominated as Best Supporting Actress), and Timothy Spall. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Drama

Awards: Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama – null Best Picture – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Actress – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Director – Los Angeles Film Critics Association Best Director – Directors Guild of America Best Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Director – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Original Screenplay – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Picture – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Best Supporting Actress – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Palme d'Or – Cannes Film Festival Best Actress – Cannes Film Festival Best Picture – National Board of Review Best Picture (Runner-up) – National Society of Film Critics Best Director (Runner-up) – National Society of Film Critics Best Actress - Runner-up – National Society of Film Critics Best Actress – Screen Actors Guild Film Presented – Telluride Film Festival Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama – Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Features: cc[None specified]

Secrets and Lies

Format: Digital Video Disc (DVD)

Release Date: 02/01/2005

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Theatre Wide-Screen

Audio: DS Dolby Surround (4.0)

Runtime: 142 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: English,Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Side #1 --
1. Main Titles/The Funeral [:09]
2. Party Talk [3:09]
3. Ties That Bind [3:20]
4. The Optometrist [:35]
5. At Work [2:10]
6. ...And At Home [3:04]
7. Why Now? [1:49]
8. Gentleman Called [:11]
9. Decision Time [5:07]
10. Calling 'Round [1:41]
11. Breakdown [7:22]
12. A Lot of Love [:37]
13. Family Row [3:00]
14. A Shock to the System [3:28]
15. Rendezvous [4:12]
16. A Good Turn [:46]
17. Ringing Up [4:05]
18. The Short Straw [:57]
19. Down and Out [4:40]
20. A Big Heart [1:13]
21. Invitation [4:02]
22. 21st Birthday [2:49]
23. The Barbecue [1:02]
24. A Toast [4:14]
25. Uncovered [1:47]
26. Sharing the Pain [1:32]
27. Tea in the Garden [1:46]
28. End Titles [1:52]

Michael Hastings

Mike Leigh's biggest success in America at the time, 1996's Secrets & Lies was also the closest the renegade director had ever come to fashioning a conventional melodrama. Its universal themes of familial reunion and forgiveness no doubt contributed to its success at the box office -- as well as with the Academy, who nominated it for five Oscars -- but there's no mistaking the unforced, nuanced rhythms of Secrets & Lies for those of a traditional Hollywood tearjerker. As per Leigh's improvisational style, the film spreads its attention democratically amongst its characters until finding its core relationship: the unlikely mother-daughter combo of Brenda Blethyn and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. Alternately histrionic and sympathetic, Academy Award nominee Blethyn chooses not to opt for an overly sympathetic performance ? la Shirley MacLaine or Bette Midler; instead, she and Leigh have the courage to make Cynthia somewhat grating at times (an opinion shared by her other daughter, played by the hilariously frustrated Claire Rushbrook). For her part, Best Supporting Actress nominee Jean-Baptiste is a model of reserve and compassion. Watch for her reactions during the train station reunion scene -- Leigh hadn't told either actress whom to expect during the shoot. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Terence Harvey  Actor 
Anthony O'Donnell  Actor 
Rachel Lewis  Actor 
Lesley Manville  Actor 
Richard Syms  Actor 
Lee Ross  Actor 
Linda Beckett  Actor 
Ruth Sheen  Actor 
Peter Wight  Actor 
Brian Bovell  Actor 
Trevor Laird  Actor 
Daniel Smith  Actor 
Stephen Churchett  Actor 
David Neilson  Actor 
Jean Ainslie  Actor 
Philip Davis  Actor 
Annie Hayes  Actor 
Lucy Sheen  Actor 
Peter Waddington  Actor 
Sheila Kelley  Actor 
Liz Smith  Actor 
Gordon Winter  Actor 
Alison Steadman  Actor 
Elizabeth Berrington  Actor 
Simon Channing-Williams  Producer 
Mike Leigh  Director 
Mike Leigh  Screenwriter 
Andrew Dickson  Composer (Music Score) 
Brenda Blethyn  Actor 
Marianne Jean-Baptiste  Actor 
Phyllis Logan  Actor 
Timothy Spall  Actor 
Claire Rushbrook  Actor 
Ron Cook  Actor 

Country: France,UK