Secrets & Lies
“Roxanne drives her mother crazy. Maurice never speaks to his niece. Cynthia has a shock for her family. Monica can't talk to her husband. Hortense has never met her mother.”
Mike LeighCast
Brenda Blethyn 
Marianne Jean-Baptiste 
Timothy Spall
Credits
Written by: Mike Leigh
Plot
Hortense, a young Black optometrist, adopted at birth, traces her birth mother after the death of her adoptive mother, and finds Cynthia, a white working-class woman in London who has not told her family about the child. Their meeting brings family secrets to the surface at a birthday barbecue. Mike Leigh's 1996 film, with Brenda Blethyn, won the Palme d'Or.
Sinekatalog’s take
Mike Leigh's improvised drama has a Black woman discover her white birth mother. Funny, painful and humane, anchored by Brenda Blethyn and Marianne Jean-Baptiste.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.
Ratings
IMDb: 8.0 / 10 (51,054 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.
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