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

Reveals itself detail by searing detail.

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

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]

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]

If film means anything to you, if emotional truth is a quality you care about, this is an event that ought not be missed.

It moves us on a human level, it keeps us guessing during scenes as unpredictable as life, and it shows us how ordinary people have a chance of somehow coping with their problems, which are rather ordinary, too.

Leigh goes right to the core of his character's lives and mines the place where we're weakest, most alone and sometimes the cruelest.

A masterful mix of wit and humor, sympathy and sadness.

A magnificent melodrama that draws both tears and laughter from the everyday give-and-take of seemingly ordinary souls.

There's not a weak performance in Secrets And Lies, a fact made more notable by the seeming ease with which the cast performs as an ensemble.

By creating characters from emotional wellsprings rather than concepts, Leigh thrills us with the possibilities that emerge when people are merely in the same room.

A radiant, heartbreaking film.

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