Secret Things

Starts off as a Neil Labute meets Catherine Breillat game of sexual politics, takes a side route into Fight Club identity politics, and ends up in some wild-ass orgy with characters speaking in capital letters about Life and Sex and Power. As the characters became less human and more representations of ideas, I started to weary. There was even a point where I thought, "Oh no, not another scene of a girl pleasuring herself!" which is something I never thought would cross my mind.

Much more impressed by this on second watch, mostly as a fascinating character study through exhibitionist and exploitative sexual practices. An amusing observation, I think, is that the film would have an entirely different quality had it been about two men: that is, public masturbation is a liberation for women; with men it's perverse (although Brisseau has addressed this sympathetically in La vie comme ca).

Interesting psychological topic but extremely raw flowing and acting.

this guy sure fucking loves stupid bird imagery

Star Rating: ★★★★

Jean-Claude Brisseau #2

Top badass moment? When Nathalie takes Sandrine back to her flat for the first time, they decide to open a bottle of wine. Champagne of course. If that happened in the UK it would be a bottle of Tesco own label plonk with a screw lid; or a few tins of lager. It's hard to argue that a touch of class isn't badass. No cats, chainsaws or decapitations.

"Happily and ridiculously over the top, Secret Things is a war of anarchic, sexual primitisim." - Ed Gonzalez

Supremely boring.

So disappointing. I thought there was a plot there somewhere. In the end it was just soft porn.

Secret Things makes a valiant attempt to cram as much sexual taboos as it can in 120 minutes. Unfortunately, it comes with a price -- namely, a ridiculous plot and some god-awful acting by some of the performers. Still, the utter absurdity of the story made it bearable, unlike the snorefest called Secretary.

I rented this because I thought it was about two women getting naked. The plot and substance of this movie, the psychological impact the players have on each other, is incredible.