Un secret (2007)

Director:

Claude Miller

Writers:

Claude Miller
Philippe Grimbert (novel)

Release Date:

3 October 2007 (France)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

A 15-year-old boy unearths a shocking family secret.

Plot Keywords:

Secret | Jewish | Family Secret | Nonlinear Timeline | World War Two

Awards:

3 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Cécile De France	...	Tania Stirn / Grimbert
Patrick Bruel	...	Maxime Nathan Grinberg / Grimbert
Ludivine Sagnier	...	Hannah Golda Stirn / Grinberg
Julie Depardieu	...	Louise
Mathieu Amalric	...	François Grimbert à 37 ans
Nathalie Boutefeu	...	Esther
Yves Verhoeven	...	Guillaume
Yves Jacques	...	Le commandant Béraud
Sam Garbarski	...	Joseph
Orlando Nicoletti	...	Simon Grinberg à 7 ans
Valentin Vigourt	...	François Grimbert à 7 ans
Quentin Dubuis	...	François Grimbert à 14 ans
Myriam Fuks	...	La mère d'Hannah
Robert Plagnol	...	Robert Stirn
Michel Israel	...	Le père d'Hannah
Eric Godon	...	Serge Klarsfeld
Justine Jouxtel	...	Rebecca Finke
Timothée Laissard	...	Paul
Annie Savarin	...	Mathilde
Arthur Mazet	...	L'élève chafouin
Philippe Grimbert	...	Le passeur
Chantal Banlier	...	Maria
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Erno Bango	...	Musicien mariage
Albert Bouhadana	...	Le rabin
Marc Cennelier	...	Le maire
Gil Demurger	...	Le pion
Bernard Fructus
Aldo Granato	...	Musicien mariage
Annie Grégorio	...	(scenes deleted)
Amelia Jacob	...	Rose
Laurent Lafitte	...	Gendarme arrestation
Robert Lakatos	...	Musicien mariage
Marie Lecuziat	...	Educatrice spécialisée
Philippe Lesong	...	Le glacier
Oszkár Németh	...	Musicien mariage
Laura Presgurvic	...	Amie de Louise
Lola Trofanovic	...	La chanteuse au mariage
Adolf Hitler	...	Himself (archive footage) (uncredited)

Directed by
Claude Miller

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Philippe Grimbert		novel
Claude Miller

Produced by
Alfred Hürmer	....	co-producer
Yves Marmion	....	producer

Original Music by
Zbigniew Preisner

Cinematography by
Gérard de Battista

Film Editing by
Véronique Lange

Makeup Department
Lucía Bretones-Méndez	....	key makeup artist
Alexis Kinebanyan	....	special makeup effects artist
Benoît Lestang	....	special makeup effects artist
Marie Luiset	....	makeup artist
Christophe Oliveira	....	makeup artist
Silvine Picard	....	hair stylist
Chloé Van Lierde	....	special makeup effects artist

Production Management
Abraham Goldblat	....	post-production manager
Sylvestre Guarino	....	production manager
Benjamin Hess	....	unit production manager
Sarah Leres	....	unit manager
Sandrine Rouquié	....	assistant production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Denis Bergonhe	....	first assistant director
Cotinier Helena	....	third assistant director
Bonnie Pirès	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Stéphanie Arnaud	....	swing gang
Loïc Chavanon	....	property master
Thierry Poulet	....	painter
Bernadette Saint Loubert	....	set dresser
Christine Teulier	....	property master
Julie Wassef	....	second assistant decorator (uncredited)

Sound Department
Pascal Armant	....	sound recordist
Philippe Baudhuin	....	sound re-recording mixer
Julie Brenta	....	dialogue editor
Fred Demolder	....	sound editor
François Piednoir	....	sound trainee

Visual Effects by
Frederik Bois	....	visual effects supervisor
Cyrille Bonjean	....	digital compositor
Stephanie Broussaud	....	Lustre assistant
Nicolas Daniel	....	data manager
Thomas Duval	....	visual effects supervisor
Abdel Ali Kassou	....	technical manager
Sebastien Rame	....	digital compositor

Stunts
Gaëlle Cohen	....	co-stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Luis Armando Arteaga	....	first assistant camera
Kamel Azzi	....	electrician
Franck-Norman Bihi	....	electrician
Stéphane Degnieau	....	assistant camera (as Stéphane Degniau)
Dorothée Guermonprez	....	assistant camera
Vincent Plaidy	....	additional focus puller
Jan Rubens	....	Steadicam operator
Eric Thurot	....	generator operator
Thierry Valletoux	....	still photographer
Jean-Mary Vodoz	....	additional grip

Casting Department
Laurent Couraud	....	extras casting
Sandra Marthon	....	extras casting assistant
Elsa Pharaon	....	casting: children

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Florie Vaslin	....	wardrobe supervisor

Editorial Department
Chrystel Alépée	....	assistant editor
Serge Anthony	....	color timer (as Serge Antony)
Stephanie Broussaud	....	digital intermediate editor
Élodie Ichter	....	digital intermediate editor
Natacha Louis	....	digital color grader

Music Department
Edouard Dubois	....	music consultant
Valérie Lindon	....	music supervisor

Other crew
Marie-France Barrier	....	making-of director
Frederik Bois	....	title designer
Marianne Campan	....	additional location scout
Johanna Colboc	....	assistant location manager
Corinne Devaux	....	choreographer
Sylvie Koechlin	....	script supervisor
Sandrine Rouquié	....	production assistant

Thanks
Bertrand Blier	....	thanks
Olivier Colat-Parros	....	thanks: animal fx

Production Companies

• Canal+ (participation)
• France 3 Cinéma
• Région Ile-de-France (support)
• Soficinéma 2
• Soficinéma 3
• UGC YM

Distributors

• Alfa Films (2008) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Arti Film (2007) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Filmes do Estação (2009) (Brazil) (theatrical)
• Japan Community Cinema Center (2012) (Japan) (theatrical) (in association with)
• Kinokuniya (2012) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Mermaid Film (2012) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Strand Releasing (2008) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• UGC Distribution (2006) (France) (theatrical)
• TVA Films (2007) (Canada) (all media)

Other Companies

• Bogard  camera equipment
• Creative Regie  production equipment and services (production services)
• Duboi  visual effects
• G. D. Son  sound equipment

Also Known As:

"A Secret" - International (English title) (festival title), USA (new title)
"Un secreto" - Argentina, Mexico
"Ein Geheimnis" - Germany
"En hemmelighed" - Denmark
"Tajemnica" - Poland
"To mystiko" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"Um Segredo" - Brazil (festival title)
"Um Segredo de Família" - Brazil

Runtime:

Argentina:105 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | Yiddish | German | Hebrew

Color:

Color | Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Argentina:13 | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Baraize, Indre, France

Company:

Canal+

Trivia:

Eva Green was considered for the role of Tania and Pascal Elbé for the role of Maxime

Movie Connections:

References La grande illusion (1937)

Soundtrack:

Maréchal, nous voilà!

What You Don't Know Can Hurt You

Claude Miller is one of the finest of modern French directors, and this film is one of his best. As many others have said before me, 'Un Secret' ('A Secret') verges on perfection in every way. The direction, the actors, the novel, the script, are all superb. The film is based upon a best-selling novel by Philippe Grimbert, which tells what is apparently a true story, of a revelation about what really happened in wartime, as experienced by a son who has never been told the truth. The story takes places at various times and has flashbacks and flash-forwards. The savage oppression of the Vichy Regime in France is here shown in all its fascist relentlessness: French policemen picking up French citizens to send them off to be gassed in Germany! Children too! And thereby hangs the tale: the 'imaginary brother' whom the lead character used to play with in his imagination when he was a child is someone he later discovers really existed, and really was his older brother so that it must have been a psychic impression. But the older brother was sent off to his death, with his mother, and a conspiracy of silence about the true events became a family tradition. The stately and athletic figure of the ironically named Cecile de France (ironical because she was born not in France but in Belgium) wafts through this film continually, and to call her redolent with vibrant beauty and possessor of a kind of 'ideal Aryan woman' quality would be an understatement. She positively exudes allure, in the way that some fruit trees drip sap. Ludivine Sagnier, who used to be a child actress, but has long since matured successfully, does an incredibly sensitive job of portraying the intangible hysteria and willfulness of a young Jewish woman who makes a false decision at a moment of crisis during the War, at a point when she has become irrationally defiant and slightly unhinged. This is a perfectly judged film, which must have meant a lot to the director (who wrote the script himself), and everyone involved seems to have contributed his or her best to bring this tragic tale to life in an unforgettable manner.