Secrets and Lies | Timothy Spall, Phyllis Logan | 6 Stars: The Truth Shall Set You Free

Secrets and Lies | Timothy Spall, Phyllis Logan | Golden performance collectively. Leigh's genius shines.

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Secrets and Lies

	Secrets and Lies Timothy Spall, Phyllis Logan 20th Century Fox, 2005 average customer review:based on 66 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

6 Stars: The Truth Shall Set You Free

Over-the-top emotionally, boldly going where few films ever dare to go, Mike Leigh's "Secrets and Lies" never fails, even after many repeated viewings, to impress with its naked, in-your-face emotionalism. Just when you think that Leigh's characters can go no further, cannot possibly peel away another layer to reveal a truth about themselves...a character or characters does just that.
Roxanne's (Claire Rushbrook) birthday "party" at her brother Maurice's (a terrific performance by Timothy Spall) house is one of the greatest scenes ever committed to film: all the secrets and lies of this family are revealed, reviled and laid out for all to accept or not. Think "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" times 10 as the old saying the truth shall set you free is applied generously as the wine flows in this scene. All of the characters attain a kind of redemption through speaking the truth: simple in concept but so very difficult in practice.
Brenda Blethyn's Cynthia is a big basket of exposed nerve endings all of which are , at the drop of a hat, ready to explode...and explode they do by way of a performance that on the one hand grates on your nerves while on the other simply tugs at your heart. You will hate Cynthia at times but ultimately she cannot, as Willy Loman by way of Arthur Miller says...be ignored.
"Secrets and Lies" is one of the greatest films ever made. It makes its play not only for your mind and succeeds but it also makes a play for your heart and soul...and succeeds in a way that only the greatest films do: with a simple re-telling of those things we all recognize as the truths of life.

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Golden performance collectively. Leigh's genius shines.

With regards to it's level of poignancy and bittersweetness this film rates with Mike Leigh's other film "Career Girls".
In terms of acting ability EVERYONE in this film, even the cute dog who poses for the camera, gives the performance of their lives and should've received awards. Few films leave me trembling with emotion but also loving all the characters. Timothy Spall's performance is just TOTALLY beyond explanation. I just loved his line "That's life isn't it? Somebody always has to draw the short straw" when he was speaking to the young lady with a facial scar. The power behind that line really got me thinking.
In the end basically we ALL draw the short straw although we might get there by different means.
Brenda Blethyn must've been an emotional wreck after this film similar to the character she plays. How she kept up constant weeping baffles me.
Marianne Jean -Baptiste is just beautiful. What a stunning, multi-talented actress.
Claire Rushbrook's character reminds me of so many characters i knew back in London. Good , honest hearted people, slightly near the edge but then we ALL are near the edge in truth.
A more candid look at life could not be put on film but then this is what Mike Leigh excels in.
Leigh's criticised sometimes for making his scenes dismal (although it's sunny throughout this one) and his characters wretched, beyond salvation and to be pitied but far from it. After all what he unearths is the truth that exists in families, the skeletons in the closets.
If this film had been done in Hollywood it would never have the same impact.
It's a petty argument indeed but some folk have suggested that Marianne Jean-Baptistes character is too dark skinned for her considered being of mixed parentage. I can tell them otherwise. It CAN occur on rare occasions and i have firsthand proof of this. Genetics is something we still don't have full control over, thankfully.
Forget analysing this film in detail and just enjoy a collective solid gold standard of performance.

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Secrets and Lies.

This movie is brilliant and Brenda Blethyn gives the best performance ever. The film was made without a set script and is a testament to the talent of the actors.

true gem on family relations

I remember my wife renting this film years ago when it first came out, and loving it for its very realistic portrayal of a family not in crisis but in a kind of bad equilibrium of recrimination and misunderstanding. Well, I just saw it agian and it met the test: I was moved all over again, I laughed at the wonderful dialogue ("you been sittin there for two months with a face like a slapped a**") and acting, and found the resolution realistic. This is a truly wonderful film. At the center of a film is a brave young black woman searching for her birth mother. She meets her uncle, who is a truly courageous yet completely mundane man to all appearences.

Warmly recommended.

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