Reviews

The secret plunges us into a terrifying manhunt and paranoid descent into hell. David, played by the excellent Jean-Louis Trintignant, escapes from a clandestine prison where he is being held for a state secret of which he accidentally became aware. In his flight he meets a couple of post sixty-eighters magnificently interpreted by the beautiful Marlène Jobert and the incomparable Philippe Noiret. Getting friends, they will try to help him in his escape ... The atmosphere is very oppressive and the doubt permanent. Like Marlène Jobert, feeling very attracted by this attractive and mysterious man but also very frightened at the idea that he could be a madman escaped from an asylum, the spectator is constantly tossed about and drawn into a headlong rush that one quickly guesses tragic... This film deals above all with "reason of state" which can be ruthless in the face of the derisory freedom of individuals, at a time when this theme was acute, in the seventies. Without knowing the exact nature of the secret and who is really hunting David, we can identify senior officials of the internal security and intelligence services. Today we would call it the deep State. This ruthless and reckless beast is skillfully opposed by Robert Enrico to the idealistic and somewhat naive world of the post-sixty-eighters, who end up crushed by the relentless machine. A wonderful and very atmospheric film that chills your spine and which is unfortunately still relevant today.

A very beautiful and tragic film by Mauro Bolognini and a magnificent role for Claudia Cardinale, that of Angiolina, a free and strong young woman. Quite the opposite of the central character, Emilio, blinded by a childish egoism and teenage fantasies. He does not want to see in the beautiful Angionlina, with whom he falls in love, anything else than a naive and innocent young girl. Torn between physical passion and the fear of entering into a truly lasting relationship, this pathetic character fails to see that she is in fact a clever and cunning woman living of prostitution. Even when his co-workers and his best friend, the playboy Stefano, try to warn him, he refuses the obvious and locks himself in his idealistic views. He is so closed in on himself, his passions and his fears, that he does not even see his poor sister Amalia wasting away by his side. The character of Amalia is for me the most touching of the film. This shy and clumsy old maid who falls in love with the playboy Stefano. Emilio, who transfers his own fears to his sister, prevents his friend from seeing her again and thus provokes her despair which will lead her to a tragic end. The end of the film tells the whole story again: The broken and humiliated Emilio wallows on the ground as Angiolina leaves, true to herself and free in the arm of a passing new man ...

If the film is imbued with gravity, melancholy and sadness, it is never heavy or exaggerated in the pathos, on the contrary, everything is treated with finesse and subtlety. The text read in voice-over harmoniously matches the sublime images of the city of Trieste, magnificently photographed.

This film is a real masterpiece! But to really appreciate it you have to know the meaning of the words beauty, finesse and elegance... This is not a political film, the context of Greece in the thirties is only a backdrop, the real issue is elsewhere . So forget any comparison with Costa Gavras. The movie describes with great finesse the sad existence of a rich and neglected woman who searches for meaning in her life and finds it by falling desperately in love with a communist activist that everything opposes to her aristocratic and hushed world. Victor Lanoux is very convincing in this character endowed with an almost animal virile strength. And Romy Schneider and very moving, as always, in her interpretation of a fragile and desperate woman, that love feelings will make strong and full of hope. Her husband Rico is an Italian dandy, who continues to love and respect his wife in some way, but no longer feels up to her. Umberto Orsini offers a perfect and high class interpretation! Finally, let's not forget Philippe Noiret, who is also perfect as a boring aristocrat, in love with this flamboyant woman who will never belong to him. Fates shattered by history could cloud the end of this story. And yet love and life are stronger!.. A girl will be born from this intense love union and 30 later she returns with emotion to the place where her parents first met, the hotel room of the Acropolis in Athens. This movie must touch you right in the heart. I highly recommend this very beautiful and touching film! And I even didn't speak about the magnificient images shot in Greece, particularly in Delphes..