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The Secret

2000 · 107 min

A quietly intense, intimate portrait of a woman's unraveling, watching her desire and guilt collide with domestic life.

Directed by
Virginie Wagon
Genres
Romance, Drama
Starring
Anne Coesens, Michel Bompoil, Tony Todd
Overview
Marie, who works as a successful door-to-door encyclopedia salesperson, has been married to her husband Francois for 12 years and has a two-year-old son. Though she is relatively content with her life, she feels something is wanting. Enter 50-year old African-American Bill. Initially she is annoyed by his insouciance, but she finds that she is irresistibly attracted to him. Soon the two are in the midst of sordid illicit affair. She knows little about her new lover, and he seems uninterested in learning about her, but the long sessions of lovemaking are something else entirely. Feeling out of control, Marie is increasingly repelled by her own actions. Psychologically, she struggles to reconcile her torrid encounters with Bill and mundane domestic chores such as bathing her son. Moreover, she finds herself incapable of hiding her adulterous behavior, rather she comes home with scratches and hickeys all over her body, to the devastation Francois.

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In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
Directed by
Virginie Wagon
Genres
Romance, Drama
Starring
Anne Coesens, Michel Bompoil, Tony Todd
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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • melancholicstrength 2 of 3
  • tensestrength 2 of 3
  • darkstrength 1 of 3
  • romanticstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • identity
  • obsession
  • betrayal
  • guilt
  • sexuality
Places
  • big city
  • home
Era
contemporary
Audience
adult
Form
None
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language mild
  • Violence none
  • Sex strong
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action1
Horror1
Humour2
Realism8
Romance6
Tension5
Darkness6
Complexity6
Emotional weight7

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Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
romance, drama
Directed by
Virginie Wagon
Written by
Erick Zonca, Virginie Wagon
Starring
Anne Coesens, Michel Bompoil, Tony Todd, Jacqueline Jehanneuf, Aladin Reibel, Quentin Rossi, Valérie Vogt, Frédéric Sauzay
Cinematography
Jean-Marc Fabre
Runtime
107 min
Country
France
Languages
French

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