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.
Comment
10/18/08
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Un Secret (2008)
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Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:50
Fresh:40
Rotten:10
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: A Secret is poignant, sad, and beautifully crafted, featuring fine performances that stave off a drift toward soap opera territory.
Synopsis: 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... [More]
Starring: Cecile de France, Patrick Bruel, Ludivine Sagnier, Julie Depardieu
Director: Claude Miller
Reviews for Un Secret
Despite strong performances, this is a rigidly uncinematic effort.
10/18/08
A poignant French film that shows the mysterious power family secrets can have upon our lives and how we see the world.
09/13/08
A structural mess that turns contrived just when it should be hitting home.
12/19/08
Top CriticNot very easy to follow, but the twists and turns are gripping and emotional
09/07/08
It is a deeply moving and heartfelt story that makes an indelible impression on the viewers' hearts and minds.
04/04/09
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.
09/05/08
A somber and haunting personal film told with the scope of The Godfather trilogy that's sure to leave a lasting impression on anyone who sees it.
09/02/08
Both a gripping mystery and an ever-timely reminder of the terrible power of repression and silence.
09/05/08
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.
01/09/09
A fine drama that stands as Gallic vet Claude Miller's best in at least a decade.
10/18/08
Top CriticGiven 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.
10/18/08
Demonstrating the effect of the Holocaust on one family four decades later, 'A Secret' deftly demonstrates William Faulkner's saying, 'The past is not dead: it is not even past.'
08/19/08
Miller, a skilled veteran, reverses the old visual pattern for films with lengthy flashbacks: he shoots the past in color and the (evolving) present in black and white.
10/03/08
Top CriticMiller and his excellent cast create characters whom we can understand and even empathize with, even as they commit horrible breaches of faith.
11/12/08
A Secret takes the tired approach of a child viewing history through the quirks of his family, which worked only slightly better in last year’s Blame it On Fidel.
09/03/08
A Secret is a showcase for great acting.
10/24/08
Top CriticBeautifully 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.
11/01/08
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.
02/27/09
Claude Miller's ravishingly shot drama gives up its titular mystery early, but there's plenty of cinematic intrigue well after what's covert in this complicated family story becomes overt.
09/10/08
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August 17, 2008:
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