Un Secret (A Secret) (2007)

80% of critics liked it
(45 reviews)
63% of users liked it
(3,381 ratings)

Informed that his elderly father has mysteriously disappeared, anxious Parisian François (Mathieu Amalric) recalls his tragic family history in director Claude Miller's adaptation of the fact-based novel by author Philippe Grimbert. As a sickly young child, François (Valentin Vigourt) instinctively… More Informed that his elderly father has mysteriously disappeared, anxious Parisian François (Mathieu Amalric) recalls his tragic family history in director Claude Miller's adaptation of the fact-based novel by author Philippe Grimbert. As a sickly young child, François (Valentin Vigourt) instinctively knew that he was a disappointment to his champion swimmer mother, Tania (Cécile De France), and gymnast father, Maxime (Patrick Bruel). While François does find some amount of solace in his friendship with kindly masseuse Louise (Julie Depardieu), his discovery of a strange toy in the attic causes his parents to act more strangely toward him than ever before. Feeling sympathetic toward the young boy, Louise eventually reveals to François that he once had a half brother, and that his parents weren't drawn together by fairy-tale romance but through violence and strife. Back before the war, Maxime became engaged to the beautiful Hannah (Ludivine Sagnier). While Hannah's parent's were keenly aware of the ominous implications of Hitler's rise to power, Maxime worried little since he always considered himself French first and foremost. At the wedding, however, Maxime finds his gaze frequently wandering from his fetching bride to athletic beauty Tania. Later, after the happily married bride gives birth to a handsome young boy named Simon (Orlando Nicoletti), the Nazis invade and the once-happy family is torn violently asunder. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 45 min.
Directed By: Claude Miller
Written By: Claude Miller
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Jun 5, 2008 Wide
On DVD: Mar 10, 2009
Studio: Strand Releasing

Critic Reviews

Jonathan F. Richards, Film.com
The title of this movie suggests the difficulty in writing about it. You can't reveal a secret without spoiling it, and in this intriguing, complex family drama spread out over several time frames covering half a century, the secrets keep on coming
Ty Burr, Boston Globe
A structural mess that turns contrived just when it should be hitting home.
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
A Secret is a showcase for great acting.
Dennis Harvey, Variety
A fine drama that stands as Gallic vet Claude Miller's best in at least a decade.
V.A. Musetto, New York Post
The soapy climax is unnecessary.
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
The acting is exceptional. If parts of A Secret veer toward soap opera, the ensemble work reduces the suds to a minimum.
Keith Cohen, Entertainment Spectrum
It is a deeply moving and heartfelt story that makes an indelible impression on the viewers' hearts and minds.
Carla Meyer, Sacramento Bee
In Un Secret, French filmmaker Claude Miller expertly weaves together a family history, merging the personal and political, the celebratory and the tragic, while incorporating three distinct time periods.
Stan Hall, Oregonian
Sagnier beautifully plays the most crucial moment. She's part of a fine ensemble cast that somewhat obscures the heavy-handed symbolism and punch-pulling finale.
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion
Avoiding histrionics and overstatement, Un Secret reveals a story about a family's past suffering that may not be unique, but in this telling is quietly powerful.
Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun
Miller's lyrical use of fleshy details, such as the way de France's black bathing suit clings to her proud body, brings his movie a tactile humanity.
Andy Klein, Los Angeles CityBeat
Miller and his excellent cast create characters whom we can understand and even empathize with, even as they commit horrible breaches of faith.
Nora Lee Mandel, Film-Forward.com
Beautifully and poignantly captures the complexities of being a Jew in France from the 1930's to the present, where layers of a family's history are revealed by jumping back and forth in time.
Ed Scheid, Boxoffice Magazine
A remarkable film with an unusual story.
Noel Murray, AV Club
Suitably tense, sad, and deeply poignant.
Harvey S. Karten, Compuserve
Given its crackerjack performances and fine evocation of period, Miller's film has already been a popular offering in Paris and should not long remain a secret from sophisticated moviegoers when it opens in the States.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
A blue-chip cast and handsome stagings do little to prevent this French movie being a muddled, pretentious washout. Substantial re-editing might have helped.
Urban Cinefile Critics, Urban Cinefile
I was not prepared for the climactic emotional devastation, but as all the pieces fall into place, the film crystallises as perfectly as Tania's flawless backward high dive piercing through the clear water with beauty and precision.

Read all 18 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Cynthia S

A rather slow moving, nice French film about the holocaust, and its effects on an entire family. The movie is rather tedious, even as it portrays deep passions, and grief, flickering just below the surface of its characters. However, the acting is wonderful, and all else is… More
A rather slow moving, nice French film about the holocaust, and its effects on an entire family. The movie is rather tedious, even as it portrays deep passions, and grief, flickering just below the surface of its characters. However, the acting is wonderful, and all else is beautifully done....so I forgive them.
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]In "A Secret," it is 1955 and Francois(Valentin Vigourt) is a bookish seven-year old boy who comes as something as a disappointment to his athletic parents(Patrick Bruel & Cecile De France), spending most of his time at the home of Louise(Julie… More
[font=Century Gothic]In "A Secret," it is 1955 and Francois(Valentin Vigourt) is a bookish seven-year old boy who comes as something as a disappointment to his athletic parents(Patrick Bruel & Cecile De France), spending most of his time at the home of Louise(Julie Depardieu), a doctor and family friend who injects him with daily vitamin shots. Therefore, Francois imagines having an older brother who is everything he is not.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]It is 1985 and Francois(Mathieu Amalric) is a doctor who works with the handicapped. One day, he receives word that his father's dog has died and that he is missing from home.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"A Secret" is an intelligent movie about identity with a fine cast that while moving back and forth in time, manages to return to the same point in space.(Speaking of which, it is interesting to see Ludivine Sagnier not to play the sexpot for a change...) Much of Francois' day dreams make sense, considering they probably originate from snatches of overheard conversations between his parents over the years. As good as the movie could have been, it is marred by two obvious flaws. First, there is the central incident which comes late in the film, so I will not spoil it except to say that I believe the correct turn of phrase is cutting off the nose to spite the face. Since the resolution of the movie hangs on this one scene, then it is very important that it be credible. Of which I have my doubts, even though the movie's central story is based on a true story. So, did this really happen? Second, Francois(who is probably scarred for life from seeing his parents have sex) boils the entire Holocaust down to people having more love for their pets than their fellow human beings. He is right that this is definitely a misplacement of priorities but not a very serious one and he has it the wrong way around, anyway.(He is also wrong about his father. In mourning the death of his dog, old memories are suddenly brought to the surface, much like with the stuffed toy thirty years previously.) The Nazis(and any other genocidal maniacs, for that matter) lowered their intended victims to the level of animals, so as to make it that much easier to kill them. [/font]
Cinema F

Est-il juste parce qu'il est Francais? Based on a true story, Un Secret sees post-war France through the eyes of pre-teen Francois, an only child of two ridiculously good-looking parents. When he becomes curious about the inner workings of his parents' relationship, a… More
Est-il juste parce qu'il est Francais? Based on a true story, Un Secret sees post-war France through the eyes of pre-teen Francois, an only child of two ridiculously good-looking parents. When he becomes curious about the inner workings of his parents' relationship, a close friend reveals secrets about the multi-layered and convulated love affair that began 15 or so years earlier, and the consequences (some fatal) that occurred because of it. The film captures the complexities of being a Jew in France from the 1930's to the present, where layers of a family's history are revealed by jumping back and forth in time. It's about a gripping mystery and an ever-timely reminder of the terrible power of repression and silence. Beautifully acted and exquisitely photographed, director Claude Miller's superb drama is awash with the ripples created by unlived lives. He brings together beautiful actors, great sceneries and thought-provoking stories but misses the mark in the alignment of all the elements. Still, the performances of all the cast are compassionate and compelling. The cinematography for the most is absolutely gorgeous. But it seems that Miller has cheapened the audience's experience, for rather than exploring the entire body of one or two stories, he merely nibbles at the ear of many. And again, what is with the bizarre epilogue?
C.R. L

There?s a moment in ?A Secret,? Claude Miller?s absorbing adaptation of the autobiographical Philippe Grimberg novel, when a French Jew, operating with a false gentile passport during the World War II Nazi occupation, makes a decision under questioning that seals her fate, along with… More
There?s a moment in ?A Secret,? Claude Miller?s absorbing adaptation of the autobiographical Philippe Grimberg novel, when a French Jew, operating with a false gentile passport during the World War II Nazi occupation, makes a decision under questioning that seals her fate, along with her son?s. For the purposes of narrative surprise we?ll keep it vague; it?s enough to say that her actions, made with a heavy, breaking heart, do not constitute one of those trumped-up ?Sophie?s Choice? moral dilemmas that aren?t really moral dilemmas at all. (?Sophie?s Choice,? both on the page and on the screen, reduces its tragic heroine?s grim choice to a terrible, no-win situation, which isn?t the same thing as moral complexity.) Here, though, the choices made force the audience to regard a key character in a new way. And while Miller?s film brings a touch of gloss to its melange of remembrance and romantic triangulation, it tells its painful story briskly and well. In the early sections of ?A Secret,? set in the recent past, Mathieu Almaric plays Francois, who looks back at life with his fabulously charismatic fitness-minded parents, competitive swimmer Tania (Cecile de France) and gymnast Maxime (French pop star Patrick Bruel). Solitary and bookish, the young Francois we see in flashbacks invents for himself an imaginary brother. Then, at 15, he learns the truth about his parents? wartime life, in the decade prior to Francois? childhood. That secretive past involves a half-brother he never knew. The acting is exceptional. If parts of ?A Secret? veer toward soap opera, the ensemble work reduces the suds to a minimum.
Lovable M

Thought this was going to be another typical movie about jews in WWII, but it wasn't. I was pleasantly surprised.