Secrets & Lies

Secrets & Lies is a 1996 comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh. Led by an ensemble cast consisting of many Leigh regulars, it stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Hortense, a well-educated black middle-class London optometrist, who was adopted as a baby and has chosen to trace her family history – and discovers that her birth mother, Cynthia, played by Brenda Blethyn, is a working-class white woman with a dysfunctional family. Claire Rushbrook co-stars as Cynthia's other daughter Roxanne, while Timothy Spall and Phyllis Logan portray Cynthia's brother and sister-in-law, who have secrets of their own affecting their everyday family life.

Critically acclaimed, the film won the 1996 Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or, as well as the Best Actress award for Blethyn. She also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for her portrayal. At the 50th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA), the film received seven nominations, winning the Best British Film, Best Actress, and Best Original Screenplay. It also received five Oscar nominations at the 69th Academy Awards ceremony.