Monday, April 21, 2008

Si J’Etais Toi (The Secret)


The second film by Swiss born actor turned director Vincent Perez was quite a surprise as it is very good with outstanding performances and excellent cinematography with unbelievably good framing for some scenes, which is not unexpected as Vincent Perez was a photographer not long ago.

The film is in English with mainly American actors like Lili Taylor, David Duchovny and very attractive newcomer Olivia Thirlby, but I’m going to share with you all what I did. Since is a Swiss born but French director, I was hoping for a more European look (which it has) and I do not like David Duchovny I decided to see this movie dubbed in French. My little experiment was a tremendous success, as I liked the movie a lot and I even enjoyed Duchovny performance that I attribute to the director and the excellent voice that dubbed him.

But Perez not only did a great job with Duchovny, he did an extraordinary work with Olivia Thirlby and was able to extract from her a truly extraordinary performance as you clearly can see the differences between the two characters she performs.

The movie is a remake of a Japanese movie called Himitsu by Yojiro Takita based on a novel by Keigo Higashino and is a drama that even if is a fantasy leaves you truly thinking what would happen if this could be true and happen to me. Tells about a family with a normal father Dr. Benjamin Marris (David Duchovny), a normal mother Hannah Marris (Lili Taylor) and a rebellious teenager daughter Samantha Marris whose life is dramatically changed after an accident where Hannah and Samantha are seriously injured. When Hannah awakes at the hospital is only to see her daughter die. But with all the love of a mother she does not allow Samantha to die and in turn is Hannah who dies (if you haven’t guessed this is the first fantasy). When Samantha finally awakes she is no longer Samantha is Hannah that inhabits Samantha’s body (this is the second fantasy). What happens next is for you to see and I only mention that this is NO horror or thriller movie like the IMDb says this is a good fantasy/drama.

The movie is not a masterpiece but with the interesting story, a great music score and songs by Craig Walker the lead singer of Archive, the light European style mixed with some Hollywood style and the good solid performances this totally French produced movie is most likely to attract general audiences that enjoy a well-done film.

Enjoy!

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