SECRETS AND LIES (1996, U.K., 140 min.), written and directed
by Mike Leigh; produced by Simon Channing-Williams;
cinematography by Dick Pope; production design by Alison Chitty; music by
Andrew Dickson; edited by Jon Gregory; with Brenda Blethyn
(Cynthia), Marianne Jean-Baptise (Hortense),
Timothy Spall (Maurice), Phyllis Logan (Monica),
Elizabeth Berrington (Jane), Michelle Austin
(Dionne), Lesley Manville (social worker).
Please jot down answers to the following, and
answer three in depth.
1. Discuss
the film’s title. What are the secrets
and lies to which it refers? Does this
title capture the central dynamic of the film?
2. The
film opens with a burial. Describe that
scene, and discuss its significance.
3. Discuss
Maurice at work. What’s the point of
these photography scenes? What do we
discover about him from his work?
4. Discuss Maurice’s relationship with his
wife, Monica.
5. Discuss
Hortense. What
kind of person is she? What do we come
to learn about her, and how?
6. Discuss
Cynthia. What kind of person is
she? What does she want from life?
7. How
do you first respond to Cynthia? Do your
feelings about her change as the film goes on?
8. How
would you characterize the relationship between brother and sister in the film?
9. How
about the mother and her two daughters?
10. Notice
the way that we learn information about the characters and their
histories. Consider both the verbal and
the non-verbal. Give some examples.
11. Contrast
the two houses in the film—Cynthia’s and Maurice’s.
12. Mike
Leigh has said that all of his films are about family. That’s certainly the case here. What does this film have to teach us about
family life?
13. How does music help to set the mood and
punctuate visuals?
14. Everything
comes together in the barbecue scene, right?
What exactly happens there?
15. Discuss
the film’s ending. A lot has changed
over the course of this film, no? Do
these changes make sense?
16. This
film brought Leigh another Best Actor award at