"Actor: Marianne Claire"

• Secrets & Lies | DVD | (23/02/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  If a film fan had never heard of director Mike Leigh, one might explain him as a British Woody Allen. Not that Leigh's films are whimsical or neurotic; they are tough-love examinations of British life--funny, outlandish and biting. His films share a real immediacy with Allen's work: they feel as if they are happening now. Leigh works with actors--real actors--on ideas and language. There is no script at the start (and sometimes not at the end). Secrets and Lies involves Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), an elegant black woman wanting to learn her birth mother's identity. She will find it's Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn), who is one of the saddest creatures we've seen in film. She's also one of the most real and, ultimately, one of the most loveable. Timothy Spall is Cynthia's brother, a giant man full of love who is being slowly defeated by his fastidious wife (Phyllis Logan). There is a great exuberance of life in Secrets & Lies, winner of the Palme D'Or and best actress (Blethyn) at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival--not Zorba-type life but the little battles fought and won every day. Leigh's honest interpretation of daily life is usually found only on the stage. Secrets & Lies is more realistic than a stage production, however, especially when Leigh shows us uninterrupted scenes. Critic David Denby states that Leigh has "made an Ingmar Bergman film without an instant of heaviness or pretension." If that sounds like your cup of tea, see Secrets & Lies. --Doug Thomas

• Secrets & Lies | Blu Ray | (02/03/2015) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  If a film fan had never heard of director Mike Leigh, one might explain him as a British Woody Allen. Not that Leigh's films are whimsical or neurotic; they are tough-love examinations of British life--funny, outlandish and biting. His films share a real immediacy with Allen's work: they feel as if they are happening now. Leigh works with actors--real actors--on ideas and language. There is no script at the start (and sometimes not at the end). Secrets and Lies involves Hortense (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), an elegant black woman wanting to learn her birth mother's identity. She will find it's Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn), who is one of the saddest creatures we've seen in film. She's also one of the most real and, ultimately, one of the most loveable. Timothy Spall is Cynthia's brother, a giant man full of love who is being slowly defeated by his fastidious wife (Phyllis Logan). There is a great exuberance of life in Secrets & Lies, winner of the Palme D'Or and best actress (Blethyn) at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival--not Zorba-type life but the little battles fought and won every day. Leigh's honest interpretation of daily life is usually found only on the stage. Secrets & Lies is more realistic than a stage production, however, especially when Leigh shows us uninterrupted scenes. Critic David Denby states that Leigh has "made an Ingmar Bergman film without an instant of heaviness or pretension." If that sounds like your cup of tea, see Secrets & Lies. --Doug Thomas

• Boxing Day | DVD | (28/11/2022) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Melvin, a British author living in America, returns home to London for the holidays to introduce his American fiancé (Lisa) to his eccentric British-Caribbean family. Their relationship is put to the test, as she discovers the world Melvin left behind revolves around his ex-girlfriend (Georgia), who is now an international pop star!

• Pumping Iron | Blu Ray | (17/03/2023) from £15.90   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Mike Leigh: Secrets And Lies, Life Is Sweet, Career Girls | DVD | (30/09/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  Secrets And LiesNominated for 5 Oscars winner of 3 BAFTA Awards and the winner of 'Best Film' at the Cannes Film Festival Mike Leigh's hilarious bittersweet comedy is an unmissable and moving slice of real life. Life Is SweetLife is Sweet is the remarkable story of an unremarkable British family told in the classic tragi-comedy style that is uniquely Mike Leigh's. It covers issues of unemployment anorexia failure nervous breakdown and hope as they affect one suburban London family and their friends and acquaintances. The characters and story were created with and by the actors - giving a special edge and momentum to the unfolding events. Leigh's sharply satirical and unsentimentally compassionate view of life strikes a chord with audiences and critics alike. Life is Sweet brings together an impressive cast - including Alison Steadman ('Let Them Eat Cake') Jim Broadbent ('The Avengers') Jane Horrocks ('Little Voice') and Timothy Spall ('Topsy Turvey') - many of whom have worked with Leigh in the past as has producer Simon Channing-Williams. Career GirlsFormer college flatmates Annie (Lynda Steadman) and Hannah (Katrin Cartlidge) decide to meet up in London for the weekend. Naturally both girls have changed since their student days of some 10 years earlier. The curry loving Cure obsessed acne ridden and moody flatmates of yesteryear have been replaced by confident career girls of today. As they talk go flat-hunting get drunk and bump into numerous people from their past the girls start to reminisce upon their earlier friendship.

• Secrets and Lies | DVD | (09/06/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Poor Cynthia (Brenda Blethyn) sharing a small cottage with her only adult daughter Roxanne (Claire Rush Brook). One day she gets a call from one Hortence (Marianne Jean-Baptiste). She claims Cynthia's daughter, who at birth unseen for adoption has been relinquished. Cynthia and Hortence decide on a meeting. If it appears that Hortence has a black skin, Cynthia suspect that a mistake in the game. But nothing is less true.