The Secret (Si J'estais Toi) - Movie Review

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Teenage girls typically go through a phase where they feel smothered by their mothers. I call those mothers "hover mothers." In an attempt to stay bonded with their daughters, they constantly grill them about every detail of their life. For a teenage girl trying to experience some independence, this can be very frustrating. It is within this context that The Secret (also known as Si j'etais toi) forms its foundation. The title translation was an interesting choice. While many films titles are literally translated, this one is not. The original title translates as "if I were you," which seems to me to be a tad bit more relevant.

Hannah Marris (Lili Taylor) and her daughter Samantha (Olivia Thirlby) are experiencing that teenage struggle for air. Hannah only wants to be a part of her daughter's life but forgets what it is like to be a teen. Her husband Benjamin (David Duchovny) loves both more than anything in the world. Benjamin still hasn't lost the romance after nearly two decades of marriage. He treats Hannah like a queen. The family goes through the normal motions before a car accident upsets the balance of nature.

While laying on a gurney in the Emergency Room, Hannah sees Samantha slipping away. In a final desperate burst with everything inside her, Hannah cries out to her daughter...and then flat lines. At first, it seems as if Samantha has died as well. But a faint pulse is soon detected and Samantha eventually makes a full recovery. But something is eerily different. Samantha thinks she is Hannah. The relationship between Benjamin and Samantha (who thinks she is her own mother) must overcome strange obstacles in order to find a path back to normalcy. It is this journey that makes the movie special.

There are many directions that writers Ann Cherkis (Screenplay), Hiroshi Saito (original screenplay) and novelist Keigo Higashino could have gone with this story. It would have been very interesting as a dark comedy, but probably disturbing and difficult to believe. Instead, they take the high road and deal with delicate issues tactfully. The resolution of the plot in this story could not have been better. It was one of the most well written conclusions they could have possibly conceived. I had no idea where the film was going until we got there and was very satisfied with the ending. The characters were complex and well developed even with dialogue that was merely average.

The Secret was originally a Japanese film released in 1999 called Himitsu based on a novel. The film was remade by French Director Vincent Perez in 2007. The film was released directly to video in the United States. Because the film appears to skirt societal taboos, it may not have done well at the theater. However, I think this film might have found a niche at the independent theaters and would probably have seen some success. It was not exceptional, but it was nicely engineered.

Because of the delicate sexual issues dealt with in The Secret, the MPAA gave it an R rating. It is a sweet film that avoids the dark corners it could have found, making the R rating seem a bit harsh. Personally, I would put it around PG-13 with that precise recommendation...thirteen and up. The film deals mildly with teenage drug and alcohol abuse, but the message isn't one of approval, so those scenes were not necessarily derogatory. The sensitive material is contextual and sanitized...I would not be overly concerned with that subject matter among teenage audiences.

I was unsure which direction The Secret was going to go. Reading the synopsis of the film, it seemed probable that the film was going to take a dark road. I like dark films, so that was actually part of the appeal for me. However, as the film progressed, I found myself wishing for the film to avoid that direction and was pleased to see that it did. Films like this are hard to come by. It was not an exceptional film by any means, but it was well written. The characters mattered and the touchy subject was handled proficiently. Although I enjoyed the film, the dialogue and acting were average. 6.5/10.