1996 Cannes Film Festival
The 49th Cannes Film Festival was held from 9 to 20 May 1996. The Palme d'Or went to Secrets & Lies by Mike Leigh.
Official poster of the 49th Cannes Film Festival
1996 Un Certain Regard poster, adapted from an original illustration by Jacques Loustal.
Francis Ford Coppola, Jury President
Mike Leigh, Palme d'Or winner
Secrets & Lies is a 1996 drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh. Led by an ensemble cast consisting of many Leigh regulars, it stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste as Hortense, a well-educated black middle-class London optometrist, who was adopted as a baby and has chosen to trace her family history – and discovers that her birth mother, Cynthia, played by Brenda Blethyn, is a working-class white woman with a dysfunctional family. Claire Rushbrook co-stars as Cynthia's other daughter Roxanne, while Timothy Spall and Phyllis Logan portray Cynthia's brother and sister-in-law, who have secrets of their own affecting their everyday family life.
British theatrical release poster
Brenda Blethyn's performance received critical acclaim, earning her the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, in addition to a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.