Secrets & Lies (1996)
Secrets & Lies is Mike Leigh’s acclaimed 1996 British drama about an adult adoptee, Hortense, who searches for and meets her birth mother, Cynthia. Hortense is a successful Black optometrist who traces her birth family and discovers that her mother is white. Their meeting exposes long-buried secrets and strains across the wider family, moving towards a difficult but hopeful reckoning.
Over the years, this film has received extensive international recognition, including Golden Globes wins and nominations and multiple critics’ prizes.
If you’re looking for a film that discusses adult adoptee perspectives, this is somewhat of a classic, celebrated for its unsentimental portrait of family, identity and the damage that secrecy can cause.
Available to buy or rent via Apple TV.
