French filmmaker Claude Miller has crafted a traditional, engrossing narrative in A Secret, the story of a Jewish family in France in the aftermath of the Holocaust. The fine ensemble cast features Cecile de France, Matthieu Almaric, Patrick Bruel, and an almost unrecognizable Ludivine Sagnier, cast against type as the plain and loving Hannah.
A Secret shifts from present and past to reveal the unspoken truth of the fractured Grinberg family. At the center is Francois (portrayed by Valentin Vigourt as a skinny bookish child and by Almaric as a grown man). Francois knows something is wrong; he has an imaginary older brother at his side, always out-performing the real boy, a mystery to his physically fit parents.
It's a challenge to write about a film called A Secret without revealing the secret, but I won't do it. Francois's aunt (Julie Depardieu) narrates the families past in scenic intervals: the conclusion is easily guessed long before the moment of revelation. The film, however, is not a thriller but a thoughtful literary adaptation of Phillipe Grinberg's autobiographical novel. Francois is a likeable boy; the painful nature of his childhood is keenly depicted, and our emphathy for him carries the film through to its melancholic conclusion.
A Secret (2008)
Starring: Mathieu Almaric, Patrick Bruel, Cecile De France, Ludivine Sagnier, Julie Depardieu
Directed by: Claude Miller
Produced by: Sylvestre Guarino, Yves Marmion, Alfred Hurmer
Running Time: 1 hr. 50 min.
Release Date: September 5th, 2008 (limited)
Distributors: Strand Releasing
Directed by: Claude Miller
Produced by: Sylvestre Guarino, Yves Marmion, Alfred Hurmer
Running Time: 1 hr. 50 min.
Release Date: September 5th, 2008 (limited)
Distributors: Strand Releasing
