Choses secrètes (2002)

Two young women find themselves struggling to survive in Paris, street-wise Nathalie, a stripper, and naïve Sandrine, a barmaid. Together, they discover that sex can be used to their ... See full summary »

Director:

Jean-Claude Brisseau

Writer:

Jean-Claude Brisseau

Stars:

Coralie Revel, Sabrina Seyvecou, Roger Miremont

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Coralie Revel	...	Nathalie
Sabrina Seyvecou	...	Sandrine
Roger Miremont	...	Delacroix (as Roger Mirmont)
Fabrice Deville	...	Christophe
Blandine Bury	...	Charlotte
Olivier Soler	...	Cadene
Viviane Théophildès	...	Mme. Mercier
Dorothée Picard	...	Delacroix's Mother
Pierre Gabaston	...	Bar Patron
María Luisa García	...	Sandrine's Mother (as Lisa Hérédia)
Arnaud Goujon	...	Personnel Manager
Liès Kidji	...	The Young Thief
Patricia Candido Trinca	...	Office Employee
Lydia Chopart	...	Office Employee
Michaël Couvreur	...	Office Employee

Storyline

Two young women find themselves struggling to survive in Paris, street-wise Nathalie, a stripper, and naïve Sandrine, a barmaid. Together, they discover that sex can be used to their advantage, and pleasure. Both find positions in the office of a large bank, where bored, under-stimulated, prey are easy pickings. After making their way though several layers of executives at the bank, with destructive, and lucrative, results, they approach Christophe, scion to the bank director. What they don't know is that Christophe is a manipulative voyeur, whose last two lovers set themselves on fire when he rejected them. A connoisseur of high-class orgies, Christophe is only interested in new talent to satisfy the appetites of all whom he controls. In Christophe, the girls have found an opponent who knows all their wiles, and will challenge their simple under-class friendship with levels of jealousy and ecstasy that they have never experienced before. Will they survive?

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Plot Keywords:

unsimulated sex | stripper | orgy | blow job | sex on floor | 

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Taglines:

The delectably twisted fable centers on two penniless but shapely young women who set out to better their social station by manipulating men.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Romance

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

France

Language:

French

Release Date:

16 October 2002 (France)

Also Known As:

Coisas Secretas

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,421, 4 January 2004, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$104,533, 11 July 2004

Company Credits

Production Co:

Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC), La Sorcière Rouge, Les Aventuriers de l'Image

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Chosen by "Les Cahiers du cinéma" (France) as one of the 10 best pictures of 2002 (#01, with "Ten")

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Goofs

The end of the movie is supposed to take place after Nathalie is released from prison, several years after the main plot takes place. Yet the movies advertised on the advertisement pillar in the background (See Spot Run, Town & Country) were released in France around the same weeks as the movies referenced in the main plot's time frame (Sleepwalker etc.).

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Quotes

Nathalie: What's stopping you?
Sandrine: You're nuts, I'd never dare.
Nathalie: Are you drunk?
Sandrine: No.
[giggle]
Sandrine: No, I feel fine.
Nathalie: Then let's play a little game.
Sandrine: What game.
Nathalie: Daring. Daring to cross that forbidden think line that your friends will never cross. That will get you off.
Sandrine: [narrating] I wanted to get out of there fast.
[...]

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Connections

Referenced in Brows Held High: Exterminating Angels (2011)

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Soundtracks

Concerto for the Prince of Poland
Written by Antonio Vivaldi
Performed by The Academy of Ancient Music

User Reviews

Coulda/shoulda been better

"Secret Things" is about two beautiful young women, a stripper and a barmaid, who find themselves unemployed and decide to use their sex appeal as a tool to get on the fast track to success in the corporate world. Their scheme works well until they run up against a man who is even more cunning, ruthless, and base than they are. "Secret Things" opens with a nude autoerotic dance and appears to being going somewhere until it self-destructs in a crescendo of ponderous nonsense. The sagacious female protags become clueless dupes, the male antagonist turns into something so perverse it's almost funny, a black veiled figure with a bird appears and hangs out like some sort of specter, and the film quickly loses its credibility. "Secret Things" is chock full of sex which is obviously staged and the psychodramatics simply aren't believable. A coulda/shoulda been better example of when less would have been more. (C+)