Secrets & Lies
Successful optometrist Hortense embarks on a quest to find her birth mother, only to confront unexpected racial and class tensions when she discovers the working‑class white woman who raised her, forcing both women to navigate painful truths about identity and family.
“Roxanne drives her mother crazy. Maurice never speaks to his niece. Cynthia has a shock for her family. Monica can't talk to her husband. Hortense has never met her mother.”
Synopsis
After her adoptive mother passes away, Hortense, a successful Black optometrist, begins searching for her birth mother. She is surprised when her investigation leads her to Cynthia, a working-class white woman.
Credits
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How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
A crew of 64+ credited
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Jon GregoryShot by Dick PopeScored by Andrew DicksonDesigned by Alison Chitty
Box Office
1996 · Box office
✅ Made its money back — grossed 3.0× its budget
Why 2.5×?
Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).
Worldwide gross
$13.4M
Opening weekend: $61K — 0% of its US run. It had legs — it kept earning long after opening weekend.
Peak 4 theaters
Also known as
- Lügen & Geheimnissede
- Lügen und Geheimnissede
- Secrets and Liesen
- Secretos y mentirases
- Secrets et mensongesfr
- Segreti e bugieit
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Cast & Crew
64 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Timothy Spall
as Maurice
Brenda Blethyn
as Cynthia Rose Purley
Marianne Jean Baptiste
as Hortense Cumberbatch
Phyllis Logan
as Monica
Claire Rushbrook
as Roxanne
Elizabeth Berrington
as Jane
Lee Ross
as Paul
Michele Austin
as Dionne
Lesley Manville
as The Social Worker
Ron Cook
as Stuart
Trevor Laird
as Hortense's Brother
Brian Bovell
as Hortense's Brother
Supporting cast
44Emma Amos
as Girl with Scar
Clare Perkins
as Hortense's Sister in Law
Elias Perkins Mccook
as Hortense's Nephew
Jane Mitchell
as Senior Optician (as June Mitchell)
Janice Acquah
as Junior Optician
Keylee Jade Flanders
as Girl in Opticians (as Keeley Flanders)
Hannah Davis
as First Bride
Terence Harvey
as First Bride's Father
Kate O Malley
as Second Bride
Joe Tucker
as Groom
Richard Syms
as Vicar
Grant Masters
as Best Man
Annie Hayes
as Mother in Family Group
Jean Ainslie
as Grandmother
Lucy Sheen
as Nurse
Frances Ruffelle
as Young Mother
Nitin Ganatra
as Potential Suitor
Metin Marlow
as Conjuror
Su Elliot
as Raunchy Woman
Amanda Crossley
as Raunchy Woman
Di Sherlock
as Raunchy Woman
David Neilson
as Man in Suit
Peter Waddington
as Man in Suit
Peter Stockbridge
as Man in Suit
Rachel Lewis
as Graduate
Paul Trussell
as Grinning Husband
Jonny Coyne
as Fiance
Denise Orita
as Uneasy Woman
Margery Withers
as Elderly Lady
Gordon Winter
as Laughing Man
Theresa Watson
as Daughter
Peter Wight
as Father in Family Group
Gary Mcdonald
as Boxer
Alison Steadman
as Woman with Dog
Liz Smith
as Woman with Cat
Sheila Kelley
as Fertile Mother
Angela Curran
as Little Boy's Mother
Linda Beckett
as Pin Up Housewife
Phil Davis
as Man in Suit
Wendy Nottingham
as Glum Woman
Anthony O Donnell
as Uneasy Man
Ruth Sheen
as Laughing Woman
Mia Soteriou
as Fiancee
Stephen Churchett
as Man in Suit
Directors
1Writers
1Producers
1Other crew
6Parents Guide
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