One of rather a few main characters in Mike Leigh's Secrets & Lies is Timothy Spall's Maurice Purley, a photographer; husband; brother and father to rather a few of the other characters. There is an extended sequence during which he takes snapshots of a variety of different people as they pose for wedding photos, family portraits or just want to be snapped with their beloved cats. The sequence acts as an extremely brief glimpse into the lives of many different people, getting up to many different things and quite clearly at many different stages in their respective lives. But this is the essence of Leigh's film in the wider spectrum of things, Secrets & Lies being much more than a 'brief' glimpse at different lives and actually resembling more of a long and drawn out study of different people. The point is captured during the arguing couple's turn to be snapped. What they'll always see when they look back at the photo is the smiling, posing couple they were when they were caught on celluloid but what the photograph won't tell anyone else is what happened immediately pre and post the capture, that being an argument.
Secrets & Lies is the film that delves into the idyllic or relatively firm lives certain people lead and exposes the past or mistakes and how they do not just effect the individuals directly involved but other, more supposedly innocent, agents. Secrets & Lies is the 'pre-photograph' argument and the 'post-photograph' disagreement told around numerous characters amidst the backdrop of mid-nineties Britain.
Maurice Purley's sister is Cynthia Rose Purley (Blethyn), a troubled woman by the secrets she possesses on top of trying to aid her daughter Roxanne (Rushbrook) in her respective coming of age as she sweeps roads for a living and shares an uneasy but strictly balanced relationship with her mother. If one of them is going out, the other gets suspicious and you generally get the feeling if someone says something out of turn or relatively ambiguous, then arguments could well be the order of the day. Twinned with this and on a completely different tangent that will soon become entwined is the story of Hortense Cumberbatch (Jean-Baptiste), a young but very successful black woman whose adoptive mother has just died and she deems it worthy that now is the time to track down who her real mother was.
Needless to say, Cynthia is connected as they are seen sharing a drink rather gleefully together on the film's poster. But getting there is a quarter of the fun as this rather sad woman in Cynthia is established to be accordingly so before a relative bombshell is dropped that only the two of them, it is initially deemed, should know about. I think there is quite a bit to like about Secrets & Lies, and not just because of the exceptional direction; humbling scenes played out amidst takes lasting several minutes; brilliant acting and that down and dirty feel the film has as it looks at life amongst people you feel could be real. But all these things do count in its favour. Leigh's study is what happens beneath the surface of a mere snapshot of life and amongst the good job, big house and relatively large family Maurice has lies certain doubts and regrets that are not evidently there on the surface, echoing the arguing couple and their photograph situation.
The film pays sly nod to what it isn't when, in a rare scene involving people actually looking quite cheery, two people stumble out of a cinema and past a film poster for the 1995 film Judge Dredd, laughing in a carefree and happy manner. At that point nothing else matters to them, for they have found one-another and are enjoying their time. For the audience, as we witness this new found bond, we notice the poster for the mainstream Hollywood affair mentioned and filter whatever feelings or sniffy reactions we may have to something like Judge Dredd through our actual emotions as we witness these two people merrily trot down the street. It's a moment of realisation for us as the two characters enjoy their time together, a moment when we realise what we are seeing really is cinema being as intriguing and humbling as it might possibly be, the complete opposite to Stallone's 1995 star vehicle.
Without ever turning too much into a melodramatic television episode, Leigh pushes his characters onward and finishes with a dramatic set piece. Only, it isn't explosive literally as much as it is emotionally. The fact Hortense has found who she's looking for and nobody else at a BBQ birthday function knows about it is such a sly and drawn out ingredient that carries such a degree of suspense through character driven situations. There is a degree of juxtaposition in regard to the pleasure of the birthday party and the burning secret two people withhold. The film has mostly everything that makes a solid film. The development of certain characters is wonderful as is the direction and use of the long take. Secrets & Lies is a rather impressive piece of work.
Secrets & Lies is the film that delves into the idyllic or relatively firm lives certain people lead and exposes the past or mistakes and how they do not just effect the individuals directly involved but other, more supposedly innocent, agents. Secrets & Lies is the 'pre-photograph' argument and the 'post-photograph' disagreement told around numerous characters amidst the backdrop of mid-nineties Britain.
Maurice Purley's sister is Cynthia Rose Purley (Blethyn), a troubled woman by the secrets she possesses on top of trying to aid her daughter Roxanne (Rushbrook) in her respective coming of age as she sweeps roads for a living and shares an uneasy but strictly balanced relationship with her mother. If one of them is going out, the other gets suspicious and you generally get the feeling if someone says something out of turn or relatively ambiguous, then arguments could well be the order of the day. Twinned with this and on a completely different tangent that will soon become entwined is the story of Hortense Cumberbatch (Jean-Baptiste), a young but very successful black woman whose adoptive mother has just died and she deems it worthy that now is the time to track down who her real mother was.
Needless to say, Cynthia is connected as they are seen sharing a drink rather gleefully together on the film's poster. But getting there is a quarter of the fun as this rather sad woman in Cynthia is established to be accordingly so before a relative bombshell is dropped that only the two of them, it is initially deemed, should know about. I think there is quite a bit to like about Secrets & Lies, and not just because of the exceptional direction; humbling scenes played out amidst takes lasting several minutes; brilliant acting and that down and dirty feel the film has as it looks at life amongst people you feel could be real. But all these things do count in its favour. Leigh's study is what happens beneath the surface of a mere snapshot of life and amongst the good job, big house and relatively large family Maurice has lies certain doubts and regrets that are not evidently there on the surface, echoing the arguing couple and their photograph situation.
The film pays sly nod to what it isn't when, in a rare scene involving people actually looking quite cheery, two people stumble out of a cinema and past a film poster for the 1995 film Judge Dredd, laughing in a carefree and happy manner. At that point nothing else matters to them, for they have found one-another and are enjoying their time. For the audience, as we witness this new found bond, we notice the poster for the mainstream Hollywood affair mentioned and filter whatever feelings or sniffy reactions we may have to something like Judge Dredd through our actual emotions as we witness these two people merrily trot down the street. It's a moment of realisation for us as the two characters enjoy their time together, a moment when we realise what we are seeing really is cinema being as intriguing and humbling as it might possibly be, the complete opposite to Stallone's 1995 star vehicle.
Without ever turning too much into a melodramatic television episode, Leigh pushes his characters onward and finishes with a dramatic set piece. Only, it isn't explosive literally as much as it is emotionally. The fact Hortense has found who she's looking for and nobody else at a BBQ birthday function knows about it is such a sly and drawn out ingredient that carries such a degree of suspense through character driven situations. There is a degree of juxtaposition in regard to the pleasure of the birthday party and the burning secret two people withhold. The film has mostly everything that makes a solid film. The development of certain characters is wonderful as is the direction and use of the long take. Secrets & Lies is a rather impressive piece of work.