Un secret (2007)

Director:

Claude Miller

Writers:

Philippe Grimbert (novel)
Claude Miller (writer)

Release Date:

3 October 2007 (France)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A 15-year-old boy unearths a shocking family secret. |

Plot Keywords:

Jewish Family | Nightmare | World War II Bomber | Dead Dog | Revelation

Awards:

2 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Cécile De France	...	Tania
Patrick Bruel	...	Maxime Nathan Grinberg
Ludivine Sagnier	...	Hannah Golda Sirn Grinberg
Julie Depardieu	...	Louise
Mathieu Amalric	...	François Grimbert à 37 ans
Nathalie Boutefeu	...	Esther
Yves Verhoeven	...	Guillaume
Yves Jacques	...	Le commandant Béraud
Sam Garbarski	...	Joseph
Orlando Nicoletti	...	Simon à 7 ans
Valentin Vigourt	...	François à 7 ans
Quentin Dubuis	...	François à 14 ans
Myriam Fuks	...	La mère d'Hannah
Robert Plagnol	...	Robert
Michel Israel	...	Le père d'Hannah
Eric Godon	...	Serge Klarsfeld
Justine Jouxtel	...	Rebecca
Timothée Laissard	...	Paul
Annie Savarin	...	Mathilde
Arthur Mazet	...	L'élève chafouin
Philippe Grimbert	...	Le passeur
Chantal Banlier	...	Maria
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bernard Fructus
Annie Grégorio	...	(scenes deleted)
Amelia Jacob	...	Rose
Lola Trofanovic	...	La chanteuse au mariage

Directed by
Claude Miller

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Philippe Grimbert		novel
Claude Miller		writer

Produced by
Alfred Hürmer	....	co-producer
Yves Marmion	....	producer

Original Music by
Zbigniew Preisner

Cinematography by
Gérard de Battista

Film Editing by
Véronique Lange

Makeup Department
Lucía Bretones-Méndez	....	key makeup artist
Benoît Lestang	....	special makeup effects artist
Marie Luiset	....	makeup artist
Christophe Oliveira	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Abraham Goldblat	....	post-production manager
Sylvestre Guarino	....	production manager
Benjamin Hess	....	unit production manager
Sandrine Rouquié	....	assistant production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Denis Bergonhe	....	first assistant director
Bonnie Pirès	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Stéphanie Arnaud	....	swing gang
Thierry Poulet	....	painter

Sound Department
Pascal Armant	....	sound recordist
Philippe Baudhuin	....	sound re-recording mixer
Julie Brenta	....	dialogue editor
Fred Demolder	....	sound editor

Visual Effects by
Frederik Bois	....	visual effects supervisor
Cyrille Bonjean	....	digital compositor
Stephanie Broussaud	....	Lustre assistant
Nicolas Daniel	....	data manager
Thomas Duval	....	visual effects supervisor
Élodie Ichter	....	Lustre assistant
Abdel Ali Kassou	....	technical manager
Sebastien Rame	....	digital compositor

Stunts
Gaëlle Cohen	....	co-stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Kamel Azzi	....	electrician
Vincent Plaidy	....	additional focus puller
Jan Rubens	....	steadicam operator
Eric Thurot	....	generator operator
Thierry Valletoux	....	still photographer

Casting Department
Laurent Couraud	....	extras casting
Sandra Marthon	....	extras casting assistant

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Florie Vaslin	....	wardrobe supervisor

Editorial Department
Chrystel Alépée	....	assistant editor
Serge Anthony	....	color timer (as Serge Antony)
Natacha Louis	....	digital color grader

Music Department
Edouard Dubois	....	music consultant

Other crew
Marie-France Barrier	....	making-of director
Frederik Bois	....	title designer
Marianne Campan	....	additional location scout
Johanna Colboc	....	assistant location manager
Corinne Devaux	....	choreographer
Sandrine Rouquié	....	production assistant

Thanks
Colat-Parros Olivier	....	thanks: animal fx

Production Companies

• Canal+ (participation)
• Région Ile-de-France (support)
• Soficinéma 2
• Soficinéma 3
• UGC YM

Distributors

• Alfa Films (2008) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Arti Film (2007) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Strand Releasing (2008) (USA) (theatrical)
• TVA Films (2007) (Canada) (all media)
• UGC Distribution (2006) (France) (theatrical)

Other Companies

• Bogard  camera equipment
• Creative Regie  production equipment and services (production services)
• Duboi  visual effects
• G. D. Son  sound equipment

Also Known As:

A Secret (International: English title) (festival title)

Runtime:

Bulgaria:105 min (Sofia Film Festival) | Argentina:105 min

Country:

France

Language:

French

Color:

Color | Black and White

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva)

Filming Locations:

Baraize, Indre, France

Company:

Canal+

Movie Connections:

References Grande illusion, La (1937)

Soundtrack:

Les Valseuses

It's not really a secret that french academic movies bore its spectators to death

I was really expecting more from this adaptation of Grimbert's novel by Claude Miller. The director showed us with his last movie, "La Petite Lili" that he was able to take an important literary text (that was "The Seagull" from Tchekhov)and to transform it into an interesting cinematographic experience. But with this secret, Miller only manages to give a boring and literal (even if he takes some liberty from the book) adaptation without any relief.

If the structure of the film, all in flash-back and time traveling, gives a modern aspect to the movie, it's merely an illusion, and a useless style effect, for the movie rapidly gives this artifice away and finally adopts a linear form. The story is the one of a young boy who learns in the 50's the secret story of his family during WWII. His family was Jew and it hasn't been easy for them during the french occupation by the German. This last sentence seems ridiculous, but it's the key to the secret of the movie ! That's how much you will learn while watching it.

The movie is also lame concerning the individual story of the child that learns the story of his family. If you have the feeling this could be the real subject of the movie during the first minutes of the film, that shows a a man (Mathieu Amalric) remembering his child wood where he learns this story, the consequences of such a discovery are eluded in the movie. And the scenes with Amalric, that seems to come from another french film d'auteur, with it's Garrel Balck and white look, are completely useless. You just get to see an old maked-up Patrick Bruel and Cecile De France in a "Once upon a time in America"'s style, but all I can say is that Claude Miller isn't Sergio Leone, and that this flash-forward effect is close to ridiculous.

The narrative structure, the mise en scene, the themes, the reconstitution, and the story of the movie are so predictable, academical and uninteresting, that the spectator attention, close to fall in beautifuler dreams, is merely kept alive by the presence of two good french actress : Ludivine Sagnier and especially Cecile De France. They're the only reason to watch this movie 'till the end and they're the one ones to bring some interest to this mediocre adaptation.