Faith in Film: Secrets & Lies
R
Run Time: 142 min.
March 19, 2023 at 6pm
Clive
Starring: Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Phyllis Logan, Claire Rushbrook
Director: Mike Leigh
Screenplay: Mike Leigh
Join the Rev. John Zahl (St. Matthew’s, Bedford), for a “Lenten Film Series: Faith in Film” on Sunday nights, Feb 26 – March 26th, featuring an edifying and thought-provoking selection of special movies, exploring themes of conversion, humility, forgiveness, faith in the midst of suffering, and grace. Includes a brief introduction by Rev. Zahl followed by a short discussion afterwards for those who care to stick around. All are welcome!
An expert observer of unembellished humanity, writer-director Mike Leigh reached new levels of expressive power and intricacy with this exploration of the deceptions, small and large, that shape our relationships. When Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), a Black optometrist who was adopted as a child, begins the search for her birth mother, she doesn’t expect that it will lead her to Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn, winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s best actress award), a lonely white factory worker whose tentative embrace of her long-lost daughter sends shock waves through the rest of her already fragile family. Born from a painstaking process of rehearsal and improvisation with a powerhouse ensemble cast, Secrets & Lies is a Palme d’Or–winning tour de force of sustained tension and catharsis that lays bare the emotional fault lines running beneath everyday lives.
“… a piercingly honest, completely accessible piece of work that will go directly to the hearts of audiences”
– Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
“… a magnificent melodrama that draws both tears and laughter from the everyday give-and-take of seemingly ordinary souls.”
– Rita Kempley, Washington Post
