Orlando (1992)

Swintonโ€™s sublime gender-fluid performance is one for the ages (well, quite literally), giving Potterโ€™s one-of-a-kind adaptation of the unfilmable Virginia Woolf novel its consistent anchor, as it explores the human mindโ€™s preoccupation with both existential and corporeal torments and pleasures.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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Secrets & Lies (1996)

A young black woman in search of her white biological mother gives Leighโ€™s heartwrenching if occasionally amusing film the kind of narrative and thematic gravitas rarely experienced in such stories about families in crisis, featuring an all-timer performance by Brenda Blethyn.ย ย ย ย 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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