Secrets & Lies (1996)

After the death of her adoptive mother, Hortense Cumberbatch, a London-based optometrist, embarks on a quest to uncover her origins. In a Britain where adult adoptees now have the right to know their biological parents, a privilege not available when she was adopted in 1968, Hortense stumbles upon a revelation — her birth mother, Cynthia Purley, is white, while she herself is black. Cynthia, an uneducated factory worker, lives a life of isolation and loneliness in the same city, sharing her home with her resentful and unambitious daughter, Roxanne, who works as a street cleaner. In the shadow of her successful brother Maurice's upmarket residence, Cynthia is seen as flighty and irresponsible, an image that has led to her estrangement from her brother and his controlling wife, Monica. Despite living so close, Cynthia and Roxanne have not been invited to the new house that Maurice and Monica, childless and affluent, have been meticulously redecorating for a year. As Hortense grapples with the shocking revelations about her birth mother, she finds herself on the precipice of a decision that could shatter the brittle peace within the Purley family. A family already marred by secrets, with Roxanne, on the brink of her twenty-first birthday, unaware of her status as Cynthia's second child, and Maurice playing the surrogate father role to Roxanne, who yearns for the familial warmth she feels Monica can provide. The narrative unfolds as Hortense decides to reach out to Cynthia, a decision that promises to ignite the dormant tensions within the Purley family. The plot weaves a tale of secrets and lies, exploring how this newfound connection could alter the dynamics of this fractured family forever. The story poses the question: what will happen when Hortense, the long-lost daughter, steps into the fray, causing ripples that could rock the already unstable boat of the Purley family?

Secrets & Lies is a drama movie featuring Timothy Spall.

Secrets & Lies is currently streaming on Criterion Channel and Max Amazon Channel.