Top Billed Cast

Brenda Blethyn
Cynthia Rose Purley
Marianne Jean-Baptiste
Hortense Cumberbatch
Timothy Spall
Maurice Purley
Phyllis Logan
Monica Purley
Claire Rushbrook
Roxanne Purley
Lee Ross
Paul
Lesley Manville
The Social Worker
Elizabeth Berrington
Jane
Michele Austin
Dionne
Ron Cook
Stuart
Trevor Laird
Hortense's Brother
Brian Bovell
Hortense's Brother
Emma Amos
Girl with Scar
Clare Perkins
Hortense's Sister in Law
Elias Perkins McCook
Hortense's Nephew
Jane Mitchell
Senior Optician (as June Mitchell)
Janice Acquah
Junior Optician
Keylee Jade Flanders
Girl in Opticians (as Keeley Flanders)
Hannah Davis
First Bride
Terence Harvey
First Bride's Father
Kate O'Malley
Second Bride
Joe Tucker
Groom
Richard Syms
Vicar
Grant Masters
Best Man
Annie Hayes
Mother in Family Group
Jean Ainslie
Grandmother
Lucy Sheen
Nurse
Frances Ruffelle
Young Mother
Nitin Ganatra
Potential Suitor
Metin Marlow
Conjuror
Su Elliot
Raunchy Woman
Amanda Crossley
Raunchy Woman
Di Sherlock
Raunchy Woman
David Neilson
Man in Suit
Peter Waddington
Man in Suit
Peter Stockbridge
Man in Suit
Rachel Lewis
Graduate
Paul Trussell
Grinning Husband
Jonny Coyne
Fiance
Denise Orita
Uneasy Woman
Margery Withers
Elderly Lady
Gordon Winter
Laughing Man
Theresa Watson
Daughter
Peter Wight
Father in Family Group
Gary McDonald
Boxer
Alison Steadman
Woman with Dog
Liz Smith
Woman with Cat
Sheila Kelley
Fertile Mother
Angela Curran
Little Boy's Mother
Linda Beckett
Pin Up Housewife
Phil Davis
Man in Suit
Wendy Nottingham
Glum Woman
Anthony O'Donnell
Uneasy Man
Ruth Sheen
Laughing Woman
Mia Soteriou
Fiancee
Stephen Churchett
Man in Suit

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A review by CRCulver

Written by CRCulver on Sun May 27 2018

SECRETS AND LIES is a 1996 film by Mike Leigh that, appropriately enough, is concerned with the things that members of a family conceal from each other. Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a black woman in London who has made a successful career as an optician, knew from a young age that she was adopted, but only after her adopted mother's death does she decide to look up her birth mother. Hortense is shocked to find that it is Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn), not just white but living in near-poverty and wallowing in regret. Cynthia has a tumultuous relationship with her acknowledged daughter Roxan...