A Study of The Theme of National Identity in Mike Leigh's Movie Secret and Lies

Using relevant academic research, explain how ‘Secrets and Lies’ (Leigh, 1996) has represented national identity.

Mike Leigh’s 1996 film, Secrets and Lies represents British national identity using social realism, themes, and binaries. In this essay the film will be analyzed and its representation of national identity will be revealed. This film’s representation of British national identity will be compared to The Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk, 1959), and its representation of American national identity.

The themes in the film include race, social status, and most importantly hidden truths. Social status has been a key issue of Britain since early history, and race has been a key issue of Britain since the 80s, a decade before this film was made. Race and social status have direct connection with British nationality and the history of Britain. Secrets and Lies is about a black woman named Hortense who seeks out her biological mother Cynthia, after her adoptive mother dies. Her mother happens to be a white working class woman, whose life doesn’t have a stable pace. Her mother has her own family issues and has another daughter, who she hadn’t told about her eldest daughter that she gave away. Hortense is an unemotional middle class woman, and in comparison to Cynthia, reacts to each dilemma in the film in a calm manner. As the plot unravels, the audience can identify more themes and areas of opposition in the characters. The awkwardness when the truth about Hortense being Cynthia’s daughter is revealed, both to Cynthia and Cynthia’s family, is experienced by the audience. “…that the distinctive characteristic of realism resides in the ambition to, in some way or other, approximate reality, to show ‘things as they really are.’” (Hill, 1986) The identification of these themes and oppositions are when the audience experiences the ‘awkwardness’ or any other emotion that is being portrayed in the plot. This is a part of what makes Leigh’s film a representation of national identity by using realism. British traditions, such as Hortense’s ‘stiff up a lip’ attitude or emotional control when facing an issue and being a well-off woman, and Cynthia’s opposite characteristics are being conveyed to the audience by Leigh’s style of directing. This causes the connection to the film that the audience can perceive. These traditions are being conveyed, which cause and emotional connections between the audience and the film, which represents British national identity.

This film not only represents British traditions and national identity, but it also represents Britain as an entire country. The hidden truths in the movie are that Hortense is Cynthia’s biological daughter, Cynthia had an affair with a black man and this was the reason baby Hortense was sent away, and Maurice’s wife couldn’t bear children. Figuring out what Maurice and his wife represent is difficult. It is possible that it could be a statement about abortion, but abortion laws had been passed more than twenty decades ago. Cynthia and Hortense’s relationship can be a mirror to Britain and the issue of multiculturalism. Britain colonized countries by conquering and making deals with different empires and tribes all over the east and in Africa. The affair Cynthia had, represents the agreements, and conquered land that Britain gained in the past. After World War II, Europe began attempt to liberate their colonies by giving the countries their own independence. There is another key parallel in the film to history, when Cynthia tells Hortense she was better off without her as a mother, and when Britain and the rest of Europe begin to give the colonies their independence because of guilt from WW II. This also represents the abandonment of Hortense as a child, because these colonies now had a European way of life which was different from their original ways of living. Territories were still there from European colonization people were forced to live together with people of other tribes, and were forced to separate from people of their own. Many issues were under control while Europe had guardianship over their colonies, and after independence was given to these new countries the issues became out of control. Europe decolonizing can represent Cynthia’s abandonment and also can represent the death of Hortense’s adoptive mother, because the colonies lost guardianship and had to look after their own. Hortense and Cynthia’s first meeting represents the new commonwealth immigration took place in Britain a decade before this film was made. The conflict and drama that happens once Hortense is introduced into the family represents all of Britain’s multiculturalism and national identity issues that are still being thought on and discussed today.

The film’s representation of multiculturalism in Britain can be compared to Douglas Sirk’s 1959 film, Imitation of Life and its representation of American identity. In this film Sarah Jane, a mixed race child, resents her mother and African-American identity as time goes on, and up until her mother’s death. Sarah Jane’s attempt to pass for white and hatred for her own black heritage can represent white Americans hatred for African Americans and other non-European descendant Americans. America was built by Africans and Asians, and was originally home to Native Americans, but white Americans still resented and hated other races especially African Americans. The death of Sarah Jane’s mother represents a critical time period when the film was made. African Americans of course did not die off, but instead began to fight for their rights as citizens. They also began forming pro-black groups, such as the black panthers, and began speaking against and ousting white Americans. The film was a representation of American identity in that specific time period. These films are parallel in subject, themes, narrative, and both represent national identity of their countries in the specific time period they were created.

In conclusion, national identity can be represented by Leigh’s film through the themes of race, status, and hidden truths. Mike Leigh’s directing style conveys realism and allows the audience to connect to the emotions, which makes it easier for the audience to identify with the characters and represents identifying with Britishness. The film also represents Britain’s multicultural issues and mirrors Britain’s history of colonization, and the new commonwealth immigration laws that took place. Comparisons can be made to Imitation of Life (Sirk, 1959) about family, race, and sex. Both films are representations of their nations in a certain era, and both films convey national identity. Secrets and Lies (Leigh, 1996) however is a film aligned with British nationalism because of its realist approach, and British traditions that are portrayed.