Secrets & Lies

Baltimore Sun by Ann Hornaday

Crammed, cheek to jowl, with bleak moments, high hopes, sweetness and naked emotion.

Newsweek by David Ansen

The results are wondrous, wrenching and crazily funny to behold.

Washington Post by Desson Thomson

Reveals itself detail by searing detail.

The New York Times by Elvis Mitchell

Unfolds beautifully, with a rueful, knowing intelligence that rises above easy assumptions. [27 September 1996, p.C1]

ReelViews by James Berardinelli

Represents the director at his best -- unsentimental yet powerful, funny and poignant, and, in the end, undeniably satisfying.

Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum

The acting is so strong--with Spall a particular standout--that you're carried along as by a tidal wave.

Chicago Tribune by Michael Wilmington

Leigh is an artist not at all blind to the world's darkness and pain. But the generosity and togetherness he and his company show in Secrets and Lies is something the movies -- and the world -- truly need. [25 October 1996, Friday, p.A]

USA Today by Mike Clark

Blethyn is so astonishing that you forget you're seeing a performance.

Time by Richard Corliss

Rich in humor, pained or frolicking.

The New Republic by Stanley Kauffmann

Leigh, the writer, ties up things somewhat neatly and is a touch homiletic. Leigh, the director of cast and camera, is masterly. [Sept. 30, 1996]