In any case, Secrets & Lies is not the year's best film: it is excellent but flawed (couldn't it have been shorter by thirty minutes? Did they really need the soap-opera-like revelations at the end?) In sum, this film is a mighty drama about mighty little. Like John Sayles' Lone Star, it is a film about the "secrets and lies" in all our lives. The Sayles film, however, is more of a fugue, mixing in threads of cultural misunderstanding and, above all, reconciliation, while Leigh's film is more of a straightforward "what-if" story.
The plot, in two words, is the story of a middle-aged English factory worker, Cynthia, who lives with her daughter. One day, she is approached by a black woman, Hortense, who claims to be her daughter, which is true. The rest of the film consists of how she and her family reacts to this development.
The film boasts terrific acting right on down the line. Brenda Blethyn as Cynthia received the lion's share of critical praise (and the Cannes Best Actress award), and truth be told, she is excellent, though her wheedling tone of voice did get on my nerves after a while. Still, there is hardly a weak link in the cast. The actress (whose name I unfortunately forgot) who played Roxanne, Cynthia's daughter did so with an omnipresent sneer, while Marianne Jean-Baptiste, as Hortense, the long-lost daughter, portrayed a character who seems unused to personal contact. Possibly the finest performance of the film was Timothy Spall as Maurice, Cynthia's brother. He played the role as a man who has had all the spirit crushed out of him by the weight of the world, yet who maintains a fundamental decency and dignity.
While the plot is slight, the drama is strong, and the performances are illuminating. On retrospect, my review seems pretty harsh, but that may be because it did not quite meet up to my expectations. In any case, it is one of 1996's best. Not as good as Lone Star, but far better than most.
Copyright 1997 by Dale G. Abersold
