20/06/2022
film screening and discussion
Secrets & Lies
Od–jazd Film Club meeting
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Secrets & Lies
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directed by Mike Leigh, UK 1996, 142'
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- We do not look at this world from the outside, but we walk inside and become part of it. Mike Leigh, master of psychological and social realism, tenderly looks at our weaknesses and strengths in what is probably his best film.
- Cynthia works in a packaging factory in East London. Her job allows her to pay the rent of a dingy flat where she lives with her now grown-up daughter Roxanne. Despite the difficulties, Cynthia tries to keep in touch with her beloved brother, who distanced himself without explanation. One day, Cynthia receives an unexpected phone call from a stranger who claims to be her daughter, given up for adoption many years ago. The meeting of the two will cause irreversible changes in their surroundings, and Cynthia will have to reckon with the consequences of events she long ago decided to forget.
- Secrets & Lies is today considered a masterpiece by many. It is the deepest, most delicate and insightful portrait of family relationships by the master of British psychological cinema. Winner of the Palme d’Or for Best Picture and Best Actress for Brenda Blethyn, the film is an astonishingly realistic and poignant study of the consequences of a life of deception and the cleansing power of the truth.
- Is Mike Leigh an undisputed master of psychological truth or an overrated maker of soap operas?
- What are his methods of working with actors?
- How is the effect of realism achieved in the cinema?
- We will try to answer these and many other questions together with our club’s expert Katarzyna Czajka-Kominiarczuk. We invite you to the screening and discussion, during which you will be able to ask questions and share your ideas on how to interpret the film. What do you think Secrets & Lies is about? We want to hear your opinion!
- Katarzyna Czajka-Kominiarczuk
- Sociologist and historian. Since 2009, she has been running the blog Zwierz Popkulturalny [Pop-cultural animal] about films and TV series. She is the co-host of the podcasts ZVZ, Czytu Czytu and the creator of the podcast Jeszcze słowo. She is the author of popular and scientific books on popular culture: Oscary. Sekrety największej nagrody filmowej [Oscars. Secrets of the biggest film award] (W.A.B 2018) and Seriale. Do następnego odcinka [Series. Until the next episode] (W.A.B 2021). Her latest book Mam nadzieję [I hope] (W.A.B 2022) is a specific guide for those lost in life and adulthood.
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