Secret Things Movie Review

Man, do the French know how to make porn that doesn't look like porn or what?

Secret Things is an erotic thriller that far transcends what we've come to expect from Shannon Whirry/Marilyn Chambers fare where a threadbare plot is interrupted periodically for a sex montage. Au contraire. Secret Things is the juicy and unapologetic story of two French women: Nathalie (Coralie Revel) is an upscale stripper, and Sandrine (Sabrina Seyvecou) is a bartender at her club.

One evening, they decide to try to get ahead in the world, almost blithely deciding to sleep their way to the top... the top of what, who knows.

Sandrine and Nathalie get low level jobs at a local bank, and soon they've targeted the top brass whom they plan to seduce. Sandrine is young and naive, so Nathalie leads the way, teaching her about faking orgasms, manipulating men, and lesbian sex. Sleeping their way to the top turns out to be painfully simple, with broken hearts scattered in their feminism-fueled wake. But things don't quite work out as they planned, with unexpected obstacles (anger, jealousy, rage, competition) eventually rearing their heads.

Director Jean-Claude Brisseau has made only seven feature films over a 20-year career, none of which are widely known. Based on his mindbending, unexpected, and brave work here, I'd love to see more of his films -- but, alas, none of them are available on DVD. To be sure, this is a difficult movie and one that isn't going to amuse a lot of people (the last act is reminiscent of the equally controversial Eyes Wide Shut -- possibly to a fault). Many will say Brisseau is being overly provocative without the need for such explicitness, but his is a story that requires and even benefits from such a shocking form of storytelling.

Brisseau is getting at the heart of human nature and the price of ambition, and he's cutting with an extremely sharp knife, revealing all of its entrails whether you like it or not.

Aka Choses secrètes.