Director: Charlie Stratton
Stars: Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Felton, Oscar Isaac, Jessica Lange
Therese (Olsen) is trapped into a loveless marriage to her cousin Camille (Felton) and is forced to work in a dingy shop as her husband becomes sickly from the Parisian air. When she meets Laurent (Isaac) passion simmers between them, and they fall madly in love. They soon grow tired of stealing secret kisses and want Camille out of the picture, but as they plot his murder guilt turns their passion into hatred.
The three main actors here all do a good job. Most people will come into In Secret associating Felton with Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter series, but in a nice turn he’s actually likeable here, although pitiful as well. Camille is ignorant and naive, with a very narrow worldview and yet there’s such a childish nature about him that I found myself feeling sympathy for him. Isaac is getting a lot of plaudits recently and his career is definitely on the rise, but I wouldn’t say this is a stand-out performance. He and Olsen share chemistry though and their scenes certainly sizzle but it was Olsen who impressed me the most. At first she showed restrained passion, and then shame and guilt as she embarked on an illicit affair.
It was interesting to see the love triangle develop, and the tone of the film shifted sharply towards the end as it transformed from a maudlin romantic drama to a tight, suspenseful quasi-horror film. But I think this change in tone was too sudden. There were a lot of moments building up the romance, which actually became quite repetitive, and then suddenly the emotional context of the film changed. Ordinarily I like films that go through a metamorphosis but this one I felt happened too quickly. I liked the performances and the direction. I felt the the director managed to capture the atmosphere well; the romance scenes felt romantic and the tense scenes felt tense etc, but I felt it was repetitive in places and it just didn’t hold me.
It’s not a bad film and the characters have some complex emotions going on, so I’m sure some people will find value in it. It may get some more attention now that Isaac is getting more recognition and Olsen’s profile is going to be raised with the new Avengers film, but it wasn’t one that I was blown away with.
