Secrets & Lies (film)

Secrets amp Lies is a 1996 British drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh. Led by an ensemble cast consisting of many Leigh regulars, it stars Marianne JeanBaptiste as Hortense, a welleducated black middleclass London optometrist, who was adopted as a baby and has chosen to trace her family history only to discover that her birth mother, Cynthia, played by Brenda Blethyn, is a workingclass white woman with a dysfunctional family. Claire Rushbrook costars as Cynthias other daughter Roxanne, while Timothy Spall and Phyllis Logan portray Cynthias brother and sisterinlaw, who have secrets of their own affecting their everyday family life.

The film tells the story of Hortense Cumberbatch, a successful black middle class optometrist in London, who is adopted and has chosen to trace her family history after the death of her adoptive mother. After being warned by public officials about the troubles she could face by tracking her birth mother down, she continues her investigation and is baffled to learn that her birth mother is white but does not resent her and wants to know more about her past. Her birth mother, Cynthia Purley, is working class and downwardly mobile. Hortense meets her and later meets Cynthias brother, Maurice Purley, a photographer, his wife Monica, and Cynthias daughter Roxanne, a street cleaner.At the Purleys, it is evident that severe tensions exist between Roxanne and her mother. Both are frustrated with one another and getting on one anothers nerves. Maurice and Monica also experience domestic tensions. Monica comes across as abrupt, but later scenes reveal that she suffers from severe menstrual cramps and Monica makes concerted efforts to placate matters and be contrite. Things are also not well between Maurice and his sister, they are a bit awkward with one another but both look forward to celebrating Roxannes birthday. Cynthia refers to Maurice affectionately as her little brother and asks him as she always does when he is going to shave. It is clear that Cynthia somehow can survive by the money she receives from Maurice. ........

Source: Wikipedia