A Secret (Un Secret)
Unlike his parents, fifteen year-old François is lanky and bookish. He wasn’t graced with his parents’ athleticism, and he senses that that’s what lurks behind his father’s contemptuous glances.
François will learn that there is far more underpinning his father’s attitude than he could ever have imagined, as the family’s dark secrets are gradually revealed.
The themes of rejection – of one’s culture, of oneself, or of oneself by others are prominent in this film. Even more important, is the underlying reasons for those attitudes.
The so-called cult of the body in the 1930’s is most often seen in Nazi propaganda: you’ve probably seen footage of regimented young German women swinging their arms around, and of young German men performing gymnastics. But this was also a broader phenomenon, embraced by the Jews themselves. Iis the obsession Francoise’s father has with physical strength adopted from his Jewish culture, or borne out of his an unconscious desire to conform to Nazi propaganda, for survival?
It is significant that Francoise’s father – Maxime - is drawn to a striking, but surprisingly Aryan-looking young woman played by Cecile de France (Orchestra Seats), who cuts a believably athletic figure in this film. Her fair hair and athletic build distinguishing her from most other Jews, and therefore making her appealing to Maxime who is clearly struggling with issues of internal cultural conflict.
Then, there is the theme of collective guilt and collective memory. Is everything we’re being told accurate? Whose recollections most resemble what actually happened?
Ultimately, this is an interesting perspective on the Jewish experience during the war, focusing on their lives around that time, and away from the camps. Claude Miller even dares to address the issues of Jewish guilt and self-loathing.
In hindsight, it’s likely that François has been unable to avoid internalising the fear that engulfed his family. Little wonder that he would retreat from the world. He has certainly internalised his father’s attitude towards him, as children so often do: not realising that it may have little or nothing to do with him, at all.
This is a visually and emotionally engaging film. The director emphasises the importance of the past in shedding light on the present, by shooting flashbacks in colour, whereas contemporary scenes are shot in black and white. It’s a clever device that indicates that in order for François to understand his father and his family, he must look to the past, with its lucid keys. Until he does so, his current existence will be somewhat obscured.
Interestingly, the contemporary setting is eventually presented in colour: once the murky secrets from the past have been unearthed and put into perspective.
The cultural setting of the film is very powerful. But ultimately, A Secret is a film about people and families, and the backdrop they provide for the maturation of their offspring. Curiously, the film focuses on François at the ages of 7, 14, and 21: as a child, and adolescent, and a man: from the egocentrism of childhood, to the broader understanding that comes with maturity.