Review

Director Leigh, a consummate cinematic storyteller, brilliantly communicates two decades of one family's secrets and lies, brought to light by one woman's search for her birth mother. Jean-Baptiste gives one of several superlative performances from the ensemble as Hortense, the daughter given up for adoption. Her quest to discover her biological mother injects Hortense into another family's intricate obfuscations and smoldering resentments. As her birth mother Cynthia, Blethyn perfectly embodies a woman at sea in the world, buffeted by circumstance, imbued with defeat and helplessness. Cynthia, who is white, is at first overwhelmed by the arrival of Hortense, who is black. But before long, the shock transforms to catharsis as Hortense, comfortably middle class, invites Cynthia to participate in a happier world, which Cynthia previously viewed only as an outsider. Secrets & Lies utilizes the grinding minutiae of daily living to underscore raw emotion and numbing regret, and yet acknowledges with joyous tribute the indomitable human spirit.