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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Secret, A

EMAILPRINTStrand Releasing

Secret, A reviews
72
5.8 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 15 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 5 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Drama  |  War

Written by: Philippe Grimbert (novel)
Claude Miller

Directed by: Claude Miller

Release Date:
Theatrical: September 5, 2008
DVD: March 10, 2009

Running Time: 105 minutes, Color

Origin: France

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Starring Cecile De France, Patrick Bruel, Ludivine Sagnier, Julie Depardieu, and Mathieu Amalric

A Secret follows the saga of a Jewish family in post-World War II Paris. François, a solitary, imaginative child, invents for himself a brother as well as the story of his parents` past. But on his fifteenth birthday, he discovers a dark family secret that ties his family`s history to the Holocaust and shatters his illusions forever. Adapted from Philippe Grimbert`s celebrated truth-inspired novel, Memory. (Strand Releasing)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

A complicated family story that takes place in three distinct time periods, and that's handled with astonishing ease and fluidity by director Claude Miller.

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88

TV Guide Ken Fox

A gripping mystery and an ever-timely reminder of the terrible power of repression and silence.

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83

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

A Secret is suitably tense, sad, and deeply poignant as it moves toward an epilogue exploring the idea that everything rots and decays, no mater how well-maintained.

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80

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Nearly every melodramatic impulse has been suppressed in favor of a calm precision that serves both to intensify and delay the emotional impact of the film’s climactic disclosures.

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80

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

A clanking, old-fashioned period drama infused with almost unbearable grief, Claude Miller's film A Secret has an enormous significance in France that it can never possess elsewhere.

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75

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The filmmaker's decision to shoot the past in color and the present in murky black and white is an inspired visual translation of psychological truth.

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75

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

The acting is exceptional. If parts of A Secret veer toward soap opera, the ensemble work reduces the suds to a minimum.

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70

Chicago Reader Joshua Katzman

Bittersweet drama.

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70

NPR Bob Mondello

Claude Miller's ravishingly shot drama A Secret gives up its titular mystery early, so it may seem odd to speak of the suspense it generates.

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70

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

A harrowing and wrenching coming-of-age story.

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70

Variety Dennis Harvey

A fine drama that stands as Gallic vet Claude Miller's best in at least a decade.

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70

Village Voice Ella Taylor

Deepened by its complex back-and-forth chronology, deft shifts in perspective, and a significantly counterintuitive color-coding of past and present, A Secret suggests that it's not illicit passion, but rather the crime of denial, that has screwed up this family down the generations.

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60

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Beautifully acted and exquisitely photographed, director Claude Miller's superb drama, from Philippe Grimbert's autobiographical novel, is awash with the ripples created by unlived lives.

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50

New York Post V.A. Musetto

The fractured timeline covers five decades, which Miller weaves together, with the past shot in color and the present in black and white. Still, the soapy climax is unnecessary.

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50

Boston Globe Ty Burr

A structural mess that turns contrived just when it should be hitting home.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 5.8 (out of 10) based on 5 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Ken G gave it a2:
I suppose there is an interesting story to tell here, but this movie tells it in such a tedious and (unnecessarily) round-about way, that it sucks all the poignancy, pathos, and power right out of this story.

Susan C. gave it a1:
Please, don't waste two hours of your lifetime watching this movie.

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