DVD Review: A Secret

STRAND
Street: March 10
Prebook: now
> Engrossing French drama about a man’s discovery of a tragic WWII family secret.

A beautifully made drama about the French Occupation, A Secret finds a confused man (Mathieu Amalric of Quantum of Solace) discovering that his parents were initially married to a brother and sister who died during World War II. This secret, which is slowly unraveled throughout the course of the film, involves the Occupation and the Holocaust, but the film goes against expectation by emphasizing the forbidden love aspects of the parents’ sexual attraction and the main character’s eerie sensation of having an invisible brother as a child (he had a half-brother who died in the camps). Claude Miller (Alias Betty) directs with a steady hand, and the cast—including The Swimming Pool’s Ludivine Sagnier as the forgotten wife—creates indelible impressions.

Shelf Talk: Miller’s work has most often been compared with the films of his former mentor, Francois Truffaut. A Secret will certainly attract viewers fond of The Last Metro and Truffaut’s later melodramas. The film received strong reviews during its arthouse run, but it will require a push, as the recognizable Amalric and Sagnier essentially have supporting roles.