(M) Secret Things (2002, Jean-Claude Brisseau)
Grade: A

I gave this movie an A for the unexpected pleasure I got out of it. Not in recent history have I watched a movie that seemed to really be divided into 3 acts. (This is a French film).

Nathalie and Sandrine are both fired from their job. Nathalie, down on her luck, moves in with newfound friend Sandrine. Sandrine helps “uptight” Nathalie loosen her inhibitions. When Nathalie is ready, Sandrine unveils her plot to use a woman’s sexual power to advance in the corporate world.

Both women are hired at the same bank and things seem to be going well for Nathalie, but Sandrine is struggling with something she cannot reveal. As Nathalie makes her way to personal secretary of the man who may very well take over this company she learns of the owners son, Christophe, who is so powerful that woman have set themselves on fire because he chooses not to be with them.

Soon you find out Sandrine has been brought under the power/spell of Christophe and has broken all the rules she and Nathalie set-up in the beginning. Christophe moves in to subdue Nathalie and use her to guarantee that his father turns the family business over to him. When he succeeds, Sandrine moves in to seek her revenge.

Yes, as cheesy as it all sounds I really found it fascinating. There’s no way this movie would be American. At moments throughout the film there is some heavy views of psychology and philosophy, which really pumped up my rating of this movie. I don’t know, this movie has fascinated me more than any movie I’ve seen in awhile.