Review of Secrets & Lies (1996) by Nannina G — 15 Feb 2008

Well made, but I found it hard to enjoy it. There was something about it that my mind could not embrace. In the end it boils down to Brenda Blethyn's Cynthia, though certainly a good performance, there was something grating about it, and its hard to figure out if it was the actress or the character.

Timothy Spall and especially Marianne Jean-Baptiste, as Maurice and Hortense respectively, are excellent, and give very natural and complex portrayals of their characters, but there is something about the whole movie that seems contrived, and I think it is telling that the vignettes in Maurice's photographic studio are almost the most compelling and real parts of the film.