Secrets and Lies
by Mike Leigh
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DVD details
Actor: Brenda Blethyn, Claire Rushbrook, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Phyllis Logan, Timothy SpallDirector: Mike Leigh
Cinematographer: Dick Pope
Writer: Mike Leigh
Editor: Jon Gregory
Producer: Simon Channing Williams
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 136 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-02-01
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
DVD Reviews of Secrets and Lies
DVD Review: Adoption's secret side revealed...
Summary: 5 Stars
I love films, and I loved this film. But as an adoptee, in the process of reunion (in the states, where it is unecassarily, and painfully harder to search), this film touched places in me that it couldn't for the other reviewers.
My reunion has been eerily similar to the characters' in this film-
an Aunt, who thought my sister had a right to know about me, who loved her nieces and resented their mother for squandering her oppurtunity at motherhood, when she couldn't have the children she so desperately wanted, and who finally faced the truth of that resentment, and the reality of her situation.
A birthmother, who though she can't quite get it together, for the love of her children, tries to reach within herself to find the strength to face her past, to turn to the truth instead of secrets.
The quiet person in the background that holds everyone together, when they are trying their best to tear themselves apart -that would be the photographer in the film- who, although seemingly disinterested with his job a times, it's quite clear it's his only escape from the dysfunction of his family, and the only light in his existence.
The adoptee- who, though she wants to know her roots so badly, is ill prepared for these wounds that have run so deep, for so long. She doesn't want to displace anyone in the process of the reunion, but fights her own internal needs constantly, so she can get some peace and closure, and not just have the door slammed in her face. Although she has done well for herself, you can see in Hortense' eyes, that piece of herself is missing, that part of herself that isn't like anyone else she's known in her life. That is the burden you can see visibly lifted of Hortense' shoulders in the final scenes, and you can even see those little pieces finding their way back into everyone's hearts.
Some of the looks, and emotions you can see Hortense going through, are ones I just felt a month ago, or even last week. Unless you have walked in her shoes, you couldn't know what some of the looks she gives Monica mean. For me, though, those looks were some of the most poignant moments in the film. This film definetely has all the elements of a great film, but more importantly to me, is how accurate this film can be when looking at the reality of reunions, what they are about, what they feel like. The fact is, reunions bring out all the skeletons in the closet, they reveal the truth, in the end, there are no more secrets and lies, (perhaps that's why people have fought here in the state's to keep the records sealed).
It's just too bad the state's don't allow adoptees or birthparents the right to heal, like Britain does in this film (with their open records). They add to the pain with their antiquated take on adoption. If you are so moved by this film, I encourage you to look into supporting an open records cause.
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